¥:\ 



^' 










LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



§\nf inp^rig^lln,.. 



Sh.elfA„2;.K(b 



UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA. 



EDITED BY 

WILLIAM T. HARRIS, A. M., LL. D. 



Volume XII. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 

Edited by W. T. Harris. 



It is proposed to publish, under the above title, a library for teachers 
and school managers, and text-books for normal classes. The aim will 
be to provide works of a useful practical character in the broadest sense. 
The following conspectus will show the ground to be covered by the series: 

I. — History of Education. (a.) Original systems as ex- 
pounded by their founders, (b.) Critical histories which set forth the 
customs of the past and point out their advantages and defects, explain- 
ing the grounds of their adoption, and also of their final disuse. 

II. — Educational Criticism, (a.) The noteworthy arraign- 
ments which educational reformers have put forth against existing sys- 
tems : these compose the classics of pedagogy, (b.) The critical histories 
above mentioned. 

III.— Systematic Treatises on the Theory of Edu- 
cation, (a.) Works written from the historical standpoint; these, 
for the most part, show a tendency to justify the traditional course of 
study and to defend the prevailing methods of instruction, (b.) Works 
written from critical standpoints, and to a greater or less degree revolu- 
tionary in their tendency. 

IV. — The Art of Education, (a.) W^orks on instruction 
and discipline, and the practical details of the school-room, (b.) Works 
on the organization and supervision of schools. 

Practical insight into the educational methods in vogue can not be 
attained without a knowledge of the process by which they have come to 
be established. For this reason it is proposed to give special prominence 
to the history of the systems that have prevailed. 

Again, since history is incompetent to furnish the ideal of the future, 
it is necessary to devote large space to works of educational criticism. 
Criticism is the purifying process by which ideals are rendered clear and 
potent, so that progress becomes possible. 

History and criticism combined make possible a theory of the whole. 
For, with an ideal toward which the entire movement tends, and an ac- 
count of the phases that have appeared in time, the connected develop- 
ment of the whole can be shown, and all united into ono system. 

Lastly, after the science, comes the practice. The art of education is 
treated in special works devoted to the devices and technical details use- 
ful in the school-room. 

It is believed that the teacher does not need authority so much as in- 
sight in matters of education. When he understands the theory of edu- 
cation and the history of its growth, and has matured his own point 
of view by careful study of the critical literature of education, then he is 
competent to select or invent such practical devices as are best adapted 
to his own wants. 

The series will contain works from European as well as American 
authors, and will be under the editorship of W. T. Harris, A. M., LL. D. 
The price for the volumes of the series will be $1.50 for the larger 
volumes, 75 cents for the smaller ones. 



Vol. I. The Piiilosophy of Education. By Johann Karl 
Friedrich Rosenkranz. $1.50. 

Vol. II. A History of Education. By Pi of. F. V. N. Painter, 
of Roanoke, Virginia. $1.50. 

Vol. III. Tlie Rise and Early Constitution of Univer- 
sities. With a Survey of Mediaeval Education. By S. S. Laurie, 
LL. D., Professor of the Institutes and History of Education in the 
University of Edinburgh. $1.50. 

Vol. IV. The Ventilation and Warming of School 
Build ing-S. By Gilbert B. Morrison, Teacher of Physics and 
Chemistry in Kansas City High-School, 75 cents. 

Vol. V. The Education of Man. By Friedrich Frocbcl. 
Translated from the German and annotated by W. N. Hailmann, 
Superintendent of Public Schools at La Porte, Indiana. $1.50. 

Vol. VL Elementary Psychology and Education. By 

Joseph Baldwin, Principal of the Sam Houston State Normal 
School, Huntsville, Texas. $1.50. 

Vol. VII. The Senses and the Will. Observations concern- 
ing the Mental Development of the Human Being in the First Years 
of Life. By W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Trans- 
lated from the original German, by II. W. Brown, Teacher in the 
State Normal School at Worcester, Mass. Part 1 of The Mind of 
THE Child. $1.50. 

Vol. VIII. Memory. What it is and how to improve it. By David 
Kay, F. R. G. S. $1.50. 

Vol. IX. The DeVlopi«ent of the Intellect. Observa- 
tions concerning the Mental Development of the Human Being in 
the First Years of Life. By W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology in 
Jena. Translated from the original German, by II. W. Brown, 
Teacher in the State Normal School at Worcester, Mass. Part II 
of The Mind of the Child. $1.50. 

Vol. X. How to Study Geography. By Francis W. Parker. 
Prepared for the Professional Training Class of the Cook County 
Normal School. 

Vol. XL Education in the United States. Its History 
from the Earliest Settlements. By Richard G. Boone, A. M., Pro- 
fessor of Pedagogy in Indiana University. 

Vol. XIL European Schools. Or what I Saw in the Schools of 
Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland. By L. R. Klemm, 
Ph. D., Author of " Chips from a Teacher's Workshop " ; and nu- 
merous school-books. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES 

EUROPEA]^ SCHOOLS 



OR WHAT I SAW IN 

THE SCHOOLS OF GEEMANY, FRANCE 

AUSTRIA, AND SWITZERLAND 



6 






L. E'. "SLEMM, Ph. D. 

AUTHOR OP "chips FROM A TEACHER'S WORKSHOP" 
AND NUMEROUS SCHOOL-BOOKS 




NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1889 



Copyright, 1889, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



EDITOK'S PKEFACE. 



The editor presents this volume of the " International 
Education Series" with some degree of confidence that 
the reader will find it the first attempt of its kind yet 
made that proves of real help in the school-room. Al- 
though much has heen written and published regarding 
European schools, yet, on the whole, teachers have found 
little profit in reading it. Vague encomiums on the ex- 
cellence of methods, sweeping criticisms on features that 
did not suit the taste of the writer, minute accounts of 
governmental provision for education, rules and regula- 
tions, arrangements for supervision — all these things have 
wearied the reader without furnishing him new ideas that 
he could use to advantage. Nor have the descriptions 
of buildings,-- statistics of attendance, illiteracy and such 
matters, although sometimes useful to stir up emulation, 
satisfied him. Volumes containing immense masses of in- 
formation compiled from programmes and official regula- 
tions have been of still less use. The teacher turns away 
from such things, and asks for a book that will show him 
how to do his work of instruction in another and better 
manner than his own. He wishes to hear of methods, 
but not in a vague, general way. Let the author show 
him teachers and pupils at work, and report enough of the 



Vi EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

essential details to furnisli him hints that will assist him 
in his own efforts. 

The lively pictures which Karl von Eaumer gives of 
the work of Pestalozzi and his pupils are remembered by 
us as model reports of school-work. They enable us still 
to see with our own eyes, as it were, the method of the fa- 
mous pedagogue, with its merits and defects clearly por- 
trayed. 

This book of Dr. Klemm is not intended as a critical 
estimate of the school systems of the countries visited. It 
does not attemjDt to give the average school nor to exhaust 
the range of good and poor schools. The author wisely 
avoids the inferior schools, and adopts the sensible plan of 
seeking the best and reporting only what he finds note- 
worthy. He limits himself, for the most part, to what is 
useful in the class-room. He takes pains to express his 
preferences quite frankly, and does not expect that the 
reader will agree with him on all occasions as to the value 
of the devices that he describes. The reader will, how- 
ever, thank him for his candor, even when he can not ac- 
cept his guidance, and feel sure that a less enthusiastic 
observer would not prove so accommodating in lending 
the use of his note-book. 

The author's readiness with the pencil assists us in 
seeing many important pieces of apparatus and many 
processes of instruction that we should fail to understand 
from a merely verbal description. This is noticeable es- 
pecially in his account of the industrial and manual- 
training movements. 

He draws attention to the difference between French 
and German aims in this field of education, and states 
very clearly that the one seeks to find a direct preparation 
for the trades in its industrial schools, while the other 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. vii 

wishes to get what is educative to the pupil from its 
manual work. 

What is said of instruction in drawing is very interest- 
ing, but it leaves the reader in doubt whether the educa- 
tors in some of the countries of Europe are not looking 
in a wrong direction for the chief object. For it is not 
the question of drawing from the flat, or from objects, that 
reaches the essential point in the educational value of 
drawing. This concerns the beauty of what is drawn or 
pictured, rather than how it is copied. If ugly shapes are 
drawn, either from real objects or from other representa- 
tions, the taste of the pupil is debased. So, too, if the 
pupil is allowed to make ugly-shaped objects in wood, like 
those wooden spoons, boot- jacks, and mallets shown us as 
products of the Slojd schools, we feel sure that he is not 
on the way to a profitable industrial career, for the mar- 
kets of the world will not receive such goods, but will 
prefer the more graceful articles furnished by France and 
Belgium. If instruction in drawing lays stress on the re- 
production of ornament and works of art of a high order 
of taste, it will secure an educative result of universal 
utility. The taste of the pupils will be elevated, and, 
whatever the line of industry followed, more remuner- 
ative work will be accomplished. Pupils that copy beau- 
tiful outlines from the flat w411 learn a more valuable les- 
son in form than those who draw indifferent objects from 
the solid. The cuts exhibiting French and German work 
in drawing and manual training are for these reasons very 
instructive to the reader in more than one respect. 

A large portion of the book is devoted to what is called 
" objective teaching." This includes methods of illus- 
trating subjects, and ingenious arrangements for arousing 
the enthusiasm of pupils to work out and realize their 



viii EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

thoughts in deeds. The out-door excursions, described 
so charmingly, furnish us suggestive hints for new feat- 
ures in our own school-work. It is true that national 
peculiarity goes for much in the way of determining meth- 
ods of school management ; but each nation should see to 
it that suitable means are invented to reach all desirable 
results. 

Anglo-Saxon teachers will read what is said of the 
great Herbartian movement in educational theory with 
wonder and curiosity. The idea of " concentric instruc- 
tion," with Kobinson Crusoe for the center of interest ; 
the glimpses of earnest and thorough discussions of prin- 
ciples and practice in the light of the subtle psychology 
of Herbart, the counter-movement of the opposing school 
of philosophy — what singular phenomena in the history 
of education, and how suggestive of the originality and 
thoroughness of the German mind ! 

Instructive glances at the education of women for 
teachers in this book make us conscious of the consider- 
able distance that separates our system of educational 
management from that of the Continent of Europe. Does 
it seem likely that the latter has begun to move on in the 
direction we have taken, and that it will follow us in giv- 
ing higher education to girls, and afterward place women 
in charge of its schools as extensively as Americans have 
done ? 

The school for dullards will suggest to American read- 
ers the remarkable educational means employed in the 
State institutions of New York, Illinois, and some other 
commonwealths, for feeble-minded children. The methods 
used in those establishments are so skillful and so highly 
suggestive for all teachers in the management of their 
dull or backward pupils, that it seems surprising that we 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. ix 

do not often see in our educational journals such de- 
scriptions of their processes as Dr. Klemm gives of the 
school at Elberfeld-Barmen. The trend of educational 
methods is toward a greater care for the weak and un- 
fortunate. The missionary spirit is more and more mani- 
fested in our civilization. While, on the one hand, our 
institutions make the possession of property more secure, 
on the other hand we insist more and more that the period 
of helpless infancy and growing youth shall be devoted to 
education into the ideals that civilization has found in- 
strumental to spiritual development. Thus, while differ- 
ences of wealth remain very great, no youth shall be de- 
barred by reason of poverty from his share in the heritage 
of culture. He shall be made able to help himself in the 
most efficient manner, and this power of self-help is the 
best gift that wealth can possibly confer on him. 

W. T. Harris. 

Concord, Mass., July, 1889. 



AUTHOE'S PEEFACE. 



This book is not, like many official reports, weighed 
down with statistical data and ponderous descriptions of 
school systems. It says very little of school houses and 
sites. The course of study is mentioned only when it is 
absolutely necessary, and even then in outlines only. The 
book contains observations in European schools, or " Chips 
from Educational Workshops." The author has endeav- 
ored to offer the reader truthful delineations of the pres- 
ent status of didactics and methodology in the public 
schools of Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland. 
Lessons which he heard are sketched as faithfully as a 
quick pencil could gather and the memory retain them. 
Numerous devices in use in Europe are offered in sketch 
illustrations, and copies of pupils' work where they could 
conveniently be used. The manual training-schools of 
Europe are shown in their results ; the different systems 
of drawing and industrial training of girls are compared. 
Each branch of study of the elementary schools is repre- 
sented by sketch-lessons, and successful methods of teach- 
ing are illustrated by verhatim reproduction of model les- 
sons. 

The book is written for the purpose of offering a 
" standard of measurement " for our own schools ; a state- 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xi 

ment of what is done in the schools of Europe, and how 
it is done. If it should succeed in disjoroving the opinion 
that " European methods of teaching can not be adapted 
to American schools," the author will be most happy. 
This fallacious opinion is upheld very obstinately. It is 
heard from the rostrum, found in the educational press, 
urged in season and out of season ; but, since it is merely 
an opinion, it can be disproved by facts alone, and they 
are already furnished by hundreds of excellent teachers in 
this country who adopt and adapt what is good in the 
theories and practices of their European brethren. 

Though the author had frequently advocated methods 
used in Germany, he had never called them " German 
methods " nor felt called upon to refute the fallacy of 
their non-adaptability, knowing that some day he would 
have an opportunity of answering it more successfully 
than by entering into controversies. Tlie facts otfered in 
this book, it is hoped, may not seem strange, for they are 
not decorated with fancies. They can be verified by stacks 
of pupils' work collected by the author himself on his vis- 
its in hundreds of schools of various types. Speculations 
are rare in this book, though the writer states his opinion 
freely, and indulges in comparisons perhaps too freely. 

He went to Europe with the intention of seeing what 
was worth reporting. Schools inferior to the average 
American school he avoided. He strove, during a Journey 
of ten months, to see the best that Europe could offer him, 
and in this volume he thinks he has pictured the best re- 
sults, described the most advanced methods, and given a 
great number of valuable hints that will be serviceable to 
teachers who have not sunk back into that detestable state 
of self-sufficiency and satisfaction which is the arch-foe of 
progress. 



xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

The most warm-hearted thanks are due to all who 
aided the author with valuable advice in selecting " points 
of observation " ; thanks also to the Government officials 
in France, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Austria, and Switzer- 
land, but particularly to the Minister of Public Instruc- 
tion in Berlin, Dr. von Gossler, and to the director of 
" ecoles primaire " in Paris, Monsieur J. Buisson. By 
their generous kindness the writer was enabled to see what 
few American visitors have had occasion to see. 

May this book infuse a little enthusiasm into teachers 
who consider their professional duties distasteful ; may it 
strengthen others who are earnestly striving to reach a 
higher level of perfection ; and may it contribute its share 
toward improving the schools of a country which deserves 
to have the best schools on the face of the earth ! 

L. K. Klemm, Ph. D. 

Cincinnati, Ohio, September^ 1S88. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction 1 

CHAP. 

I. Hamburg, the Free City 5 

1. A Master-Stroke. 2. Something for the Little Ones. 
3. Another Device for the Little Ones. 4. Penman- 
ship. 5. A New Scheme for Ventilation. 6. " Home- 
ology " (Heimathskunde). 7. How Literature is taught. 

IL DuiSBURG, IN Rhenish Prussia 1*7 

1. An Efficient City School System. 2. " Mittelschule " 
(Intermediate School). 3. Methods applied. 4. A Dis- 
trict Conference. 5. History Teaching. 6. The Prin- 
ciples of this Method. 1. Practical Instruction in 
Drawing. 8. Learning to shade in Drawing. 9. Fe- 
male Teachers in Germany. 10. Tenure of Office. 11. 
Miscellaneous Notes. 

in. DiJSSELDORF, in RhENISH PRUSSIA 41 

1. The Whole Nation a School. 2. Singing in German 
Schools. 3. A Novel Exercise in Music. 4. " Nature- 
Description." 5. A Lesson in Botany. 6. Ideal Teach- 
ing in Geography. 7. Silhouette Practice Maps. 8. 
Cause and Effect in Geography. 9. Making History an 
Experience. 10. The Star-Gazer. 11. Why so few 
Germans can talk on their Feet. 12. Class-Book of 
Progress. 13. Promote the Teachers with their 
Classes. 14. A School of Design. 



xiv CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE 

IV. Elberfeld-Barmen, in Rhenish Prussia . . . .73 
1. Proper School Furniture. 2. The First Reformed Par- 
ish School. 3. A Separate School for Dullards. A. 
Object and Organization. B. Results. C. Methods 
pursued. D. Means of Instruction. 4. A Very Prac- 
tical Device. 



V. Crefeld, in Rhenish Prussia 94 

1. How English is taught in Germany. 2. A Primary Les- 
son in Mensuration. 3. Individuality in Teaching. 4. 
French Pupils in German Schools. 

VI. Cologne, in Rhenish Prussia 104 

1. Conservatism and Liberalism. 2. Intermediate Schools. 
3. Preparatory Schools for Teachers. 4. Female 
Teachers' Seminary. 5. Special Instruction for Teach- 
ers. 6. Two Conveniences. 7. A Lesson in Physics. 
8. A Lesson in Grammar. 9. Girls' Industrial Educa- 
tion, I, II, III, IV. 

Vn. Berlin 135 

1. The Old and the New. 2. Position of School-Houses. 
3. The Teachers of Berlin. 4. Two School Museums. 
5. Correcting Compositions. 6. My Mode of Proced- 
ure. 7. Home-made Charts. 8. A Map-Suspender. 9. 
Length of School Sessions. 10. Normal School for 
Young Ladies. A. The Building. B. The Practice 
Department. C. The Normal Department. 11. How 
not to teach. 12. "Naturkunde" (Knowledge of Na- 
ture). 13. A Lesson in Singing. 14. A Lesson in Zo- 
ology. 15. A Most Refreshing Sight. 16. A Distinc- 
tion with a Big Difference. 17. A Rare Case. 18. 
"Tout comme chez nous." 19. Concentric Extension 
of the Geographical Horizon. 

VIIL Halle, in Prussian Saxony 1S2 

1. The "Francke Stiftungcn," 2. Concentric Instruction 
illustrated. 3. The Exponent of the Herbart Move- 



CONTENTS. XV 

!nAP. PAGK 

ment. 4. The Miser among the Animals. 5. A Les- 
son on Robinson Crusoe. 6. A Language-Lesson, 7. 
Miscellaneous Notes from Halle. 

IX. Various other Prussian Provinces 211 

1. Schools in Prussia, 2. A Device, not a Method. 3. 
Mental Arithmetic everywhere. 4, Teaching Decimal 
Fractions, 5. Arithmetic in a Village School. 6. A 
Lesson in Botany. 7. Learning to do by doing. 8. 
Teaching Ccmposition. 9. Criterion of a Model Les- 
son. 10. Drawing in German Schools. 11, Drawing 
in a Country School. 12. Compulsory Attendance, 13. 
Home-made Apparatus. 14. Our " Treasure - Box." 
15. Local School Museums. 16. A Prussian Normal 
School. Introduction. The Building. Biblical His- 
tory. Literature. Natural History, Drawing and 
Music, Geography. Arithmetic. Daily Programme. 
Scarcity of Teachers. 17. Three Kinds of Conferences. 
18. Object-Lessons and Sketching. 19. Miscellaneous 
Observations. 

X. Leipsic, in the Kingdom of Saxony 262 

1. Manual Training-School. 2. Appeal to Leipsic's School- 
Boys. 3. Normal School for Manual Training. 4, 
The Work done in Leipsic. A. Pasteboard. B. Wood- 
and Wire-work. C. Wood-Carving. 5. The Germ of 
the Manual Training Idea. 6. Drawing in Leipsic and 
other Saxon Cities. 7. Shading in Drawing. 8. A 
Drawing-Lesson full of Fun. 9. The Best - equipped 
School, let Notes from the Schools of Leipsic. 

XI. Dresden, in Saxony, and Munich, in Bavaria . . . 289 
1. Examinations in Dresden. 2. Notes from the Schools 
of Dresden. 3. Manual Training in Germany. 4, Ob- 
jects made in the Slojd Schools. 5. What I saw in 
Munich. 6. An Ideal Course of Study. 7. Cause and 
Effect in Geography. 8. " Knabenhort " (Asylum for 
Boys). 



xvi CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PA«E 

XII. Paris . . Sll 

1. Industrial Education of Boys. An Argument. Results. 
Pupils' Work in using Tools, in Joinery, Metal-work, 
Turning, Wood-Carving, and Inlaid Work, Modeling in 
Clay and Plaster. Industrial W^ork in Evening Schools. 
Pupils' Work in Building. 2. Industrial Education of 
Girls. 3. Dinners for School-Children. 4. Gymnastic 
and Military Diill. 5. Equipment of School-Rooms. 
6. Drawing in the Communal School. 7. Sketching. 
8. How Geography is taught. 9. French Text-Books. 
10. How Reading and Spelling are taught. 11. The 
"Musee Pedagogique." 12. A Calculating - Machine. 
13. Crumbs. — Notes from the Schools of Paris. 

XIII. Other French Cities 381 

1. Making Beauty contagious. 2. Composition-Books in 
French Schools. 3. More Devices, not Methods. 4. 
Also a Device, but oh ! 5. Ignorance and Chauvinism. 
6. Molding Maps. 1. " Ad oculos " Evidence. 

XIV. Vienna 392 

1. A Successful and an Unsuccessful Lesson. 2. An Ob- 
ject-Lesson in the Primary Grade. 3. A Lesson in 
Grammar. 4. Manual Training-Schools. Introduction. 
A Work-bench. 5. Pupils' Work in Pasteboard, Join- 
ery, Carpentering, Turning, Wood-Carving, Modeling. 

XV. Switzerland and Alsace 409 

1. Simplicity in the Wrong Place. 2, Industrial Education 
of Girls. 3. A Lesson in Philology. 4. Notes from 
the Schools of Miilhausen. 



EUROPEAN SCHOOLS IN 1888. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The reader may permit me to introduce the book with 
an argument. I wish to state emphatically that what is 
urged in our country, and advocated under the caption 
" German methods," does not deserve that name. German 
methods have nothing specifically German ahout them, so 
long as they aim at assisting intellectual growth. The 
faculties of the mind are essentially the same in different 
craniums. It matters not whether I have to teach the chil- 
dren of a Zulu-Kaffir, or an Indian tribe, or children of 
English, German, French, or American birth — the leading 
features of my procedure in teaching them would he the 
same. It is only matters specifically German, as, for in- 
stance, the peculiar form of government and other things, 
such as customs and habits, that bear upon the govern- 
ment of schools, which can not, and should not, be urged for 
adoption in our country. But it has never occurred to any 
one to urge institutions foreign to the spirit of our free insti- 
tutions as specifically German methods. What is applicable 
to the education of the human being, not of the German as 
such, is urged, and that, as was said, is not specifically Ger- 
man. 

There can be no objection to such methods, if their object 
is to facilitate the growth of the mind, the strengthening 
and steeling of the will, and the skill of the hands, though 



2 EUROPEA.N SCHOOLS IN 1888. 

they be erroneously called German methods, because in Ger- 
many they were first applied. To think that there must be 
special avenues to the mind of the German child, that can 
not be used for the American, is either the height of pre- 
sumption, which disdains to use anything not indigenous to 
the American soil,* or a total disregard of the true definition 
of the term " method," to wit: " Method is a way of reach- 
ing a given end by a series of acts which tend to secure it.^'' 

The end in view being the same, why should not the 
method be the same ? I take it for granted that the reader's 
innate sense of truth permits him to see that the end in view 
in German and American schools is the same, as far as in- 
tellectual culture is concerned. For proofs, he may read 
Comenius's, Pestalozzi's, Froebel's, and Diesterweg's princi- 
ples and maxims, and compare them with expressions of 
our home authorities. I will not burden this chapter with 
them. The lessons I describe in the following pages may 
convince him that there is nothing specifically German in 
"German methods." What I find in them is specifically 
human, and can be applied in any school. 

" But," wrote a learned doctor, with whom I had ex- 
changed arguments on this point, " your argument, that the 
faculties of the mind are the same in different nations and 
individuals, might lead us to adopt Chinese methods, be- 
cause the Chinese children's senses are the same as all other 
children's." 

Why should it ? V/e do not wish to adopt and adapt 
inferior but better methods. If, perchance, the Chinese 
should hit upon a more direct and profitable method of 
teaching, I should not hesitate a moment in adopting it. 
But the Chinese have not developed the art of teaching to 

* Colonel Parker and other typical Amei'ican teachers unhesitatinorly 
adapt (nay, adopt) " German" methods, and give due credit to the sources 
from which they draw. Many of the noted writers m the educational press 
of to-day have been in Europe to study methods. Thus I found the names 
of Prof. Larkin Dunton, of Boston, and other Americans, in the register of 
visitors in schools of Saxony and Prussia. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

any high degree, and have not invented or discovered meth- 
ods worth recommending. Why, therefore, should we adopt 
their methods ? 

Any one who travels through Europe as I did for nearly 
a year, seeing, observing, testing, inquiring, examining in all 
domains of activity, in society, in schools, in factories, in 
government offices, etc., would see that in Europe American 
methods are adopted and applied with an alacrity worthy of 
a good purpose. I saw applied numerous American inven- 
tions, American methods of carrying on trade, of industrial 
pursuits, of managing public and private affairs, etc., ad 
infinitum. American machines and devices, all that we are 
justly proud of, are there copied, sold, used, and applied. 
Why, might I ask, do not the Europeans adopt the Hot- 
tentot's methods ? It is the same argument, and deserves the 
same answer : It is the better, not the inferior methods that 
they want. 

Our almost insular seclusion from the other civilized 
parts of the world should not make us exclusive in thought 
and action. National pride is a grand virtue ; but, when it 
becomes derogatory to our own interests and shuts oui^ eyes 
to the progress of other nations, that pride becomes a vice. 
Not having a standard measure of length, how can we meas- 
ure a distance ! If this book, in a modest way, succeeds in 
furnishing a standard of excellence by which true-hearted 
American teachers may measure their own performances, it 
is all I desire and hojDe for. 

One more word of introduction. Some of my readers 
may think that this book offers a little too much in the way 
of illustration. To them may be recommended the perusal 
of the following article, clipped from " Harper's Bazar " of 
January 14, 1888. It is here reproduced, partly as a defense 
and partly for the purpose of preserving the exquisite argu- 
ment in behalf of illustrations in the professional press and 
in school-books of recent origin : 

" One of the most curious forms of Gradgrind severity is 



4 EUROPEAN SCHOOLS IN 1888. 

the crusade occasionally undertaken against all illustrations 
of school-books. The most thoughtful and carefully de- 
signed work in geography, in history, even in arithmetic, is 
sui^posed to be sufficiently condemned when it is called a 
picture-book. Yet it is a period when all works for older 
persons — dictionaries, encyclopaedias, histories, magazines — 
have brought the art of pictorial illustration to its highest 
point. Webster and Worcester have alike adopted it. Jus- 
tin Winsor's monumental ' Narrative and Critical History 
of America' is crowded with portraits, autographs, fac- 
similes, and reproductions of historic pictures. The later 
editions of Gray's ' Botany of the Northern United States ' 
have careful delineations of every historical genus. The 
American magazines have won the admiration of the world 
by their illustrations of all geographical and historical 
papers. Mr. Edward Atkinson carries the art of pictorial 
exhibition even into political economy, and is never quite 
happy till he can get his proposition embodied for the eye 
in parallel lines. The United States Census Report resorts 
to charts and curves and colored diagrams when it wishes 
fully to elucidate any important general result. All this is 
done for grown people — for the gravest, the maturest, the 
most educated. They, if any, are the persons who might 
fairly be asked to fix their minds clearly and austerely upon 
words and numerals, without stooping to the alleged frivol- 
ity of picture-books. If they do not accomplish this, if the 
very people who make the criticism are only too glad to eke 
out their own imperfect knowledge by an illustrated maga- 
zine, or an illustrated dictionary, is it not a little absurd in 
them to enforce such a grim abstinence upon school-chil- 
dren ? 

"No child can understand from words alone that there is 
any part of the world which is essentially different from his 
native town, but his first picture of a glacier or a geyser, a 
castle or a cathedral, the Sphinx of Egypt or the Eskimo in 
his kayak, opens his eyes to the rest of the globe; he be- 
gins to be a traveled man. It is even more true of history ; 



A MASTER-STROKE. 5 

the most skillful combination of words can never bring a 
child so near to the Mound-builders or the Pueblo Indians, 
to the Puritans or the Cavaliers, to the Revolutionary sol- 
diers and the founders of our government, as he is brought 
by the first good picture he sees. When shall we live up to 
the strong good sense of Horace Mann, who pointed out that 
the love of knowledge is as natural to a healthy child's mind 
as the desire for food ? " 



CHAPTER I. 

HAMBURG. 

1. A M aster-Stroke. 

Scene, a hot, dingy school-room in the Gymnasium of 
Hamburg ; pupils supposed to attend to a lesson in algebra ; 
the teacher a middle-aged, patient-looking man, with care- 
worn features, but remarkably keen eyes and the proverbial 
square forehead of a mathematician. One of the pupils, a 
criminally stupid-looking specimen of the genus liomo sapi- 
ens — one of those boys whom Schiller must have had in 
mind when he said, " With stupidity even the gods fight in 
vain " — could not see why the difference between plus 6 and 
minus 10 should be 16. The teacher made it clear by re- 
ferring to six marbles in pocket and ten lost in the game 
played "for keeps." The boy persisted in saying the sum 
was 16, but not the difference, confounding in his mind re- 
mainder with difference. 

I pitied the teacher, but was curious to see the outcome of 
this tussle with stupidity. The teacher looked up, cast his 
eyes about the room, ran to the thermometer, snatched it up, 
and with a triumphant look aimed a last blow at stupidity 
by demonstrating that the difference between 6° above zero 
and 10° below zero was 16°, not 4°, as the boy thought. This 



6 



HAMBURG. 



last stroke was a master-stroke, and the boy's mind yielded to 
this demonstration ad oculos. Further questioning revealed 
the fact that he had caught the truth and held on to it. I 
never left a school so thoroughly convinced of the useful- 
ness of the objective method as I did that day. 

I have gathered a great many interesting points on my 
journey of inspection, and shall continue to do so till my 
purse calls a halt. Most Americans visiting Europe only 
follow the great high-roads of travel, and care naught for 
the pleasant by-ways which are studded with flowers of the 
richest hue. I am wandering with my friend through the 
country. A small knapsack containing the necessaries for 
toilet is all the baggage we have. We see much, experience 
unspeakable pleasures, learn a great deal, and gather honey 
as we go along. I assure my readers we are the happiest 
couple of tramps one can imagine. 

2. Something for the Little Ones. 

This device (see cut, No. 1, below) I found in almost every 
primer-class in German schools. Its object is plain. It is a 




Fig. 1. 



box full of movable letters, printed on cardboard, which may 
be placed on ledges nailed to the lid. The letters are used in 
teaching young children to read by means of the word and 



SOMETHING FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 7 

phonic metliod combined. The letters on stiff cardboard are 
arranged, according to the frequency with which they arc 
used, like the types in a compositor's case. 

Thus, for instance, the word man is placed on the ledge 
and learned as a whole ; then the different letters, learned as 
sounds, are obtained by analyzing the word. After that 
other known sounds are substituted, for instance, r for m, 
which makes the word rail, and so on. All new sounds ob- 
tained by analyzing words are made into new words, until 
the child can sound through any ivord at sight. Where the 
phonic method is used, the " Setz Kasten " may be used very 
well in English and American schools. 

I asked a young lady whom I saw using this device what 
she would do if she had no " Setz Kasten." She said with 
determination: " I'd pawn my bonnet and get one at once. 
I can not teach reading without movable letters. The read- 
ing of an adidt perso7i is rapid sounding, and the sound- 
ing of the little ones is simply slow reading. " 

Whether this case of letters can be used in teaching read- 
ing to English-speaking children is no longer a question, 
since it has been demonstrated repeatedly. One of my teach- 
ers in Hamilton (Ohio) practices analysis and synthesis of 
words by placing three bright boys in front of the class, 
charging one to say m (the sound m, not the letter em) when 
called upon; the next one a; and the third n. Then by 
placing them close to each other, so that their shoulders 
would touch, she makes them sound the word man rapidly. 
The same is done with other words. 

Now she separates the boys, the middle one remaining in 
his place, while the others recede toward the right and left, 
and every time they make a step the word is pronounced 
over again, thus separating the sounds farther and farther. 
After that is done, synthesis follows, and the two " end men " 
come back to their old position step by step, the three boys 
pronouncing the sounds as often as a step is made, the 
sounds being drawn long enough to make them appear one 
word. Other words are treated in like manner. 



8 



HAMBURG. 



Now the teacher changes the boys' positions and asks 
each to pronounce his sound. Of course, it is at once seen 
that that does not make the word man or whatever word 
was before the class. Finally, they assume their former 
position, and once more the well-known words are pro- 
nounced. Then these words are found on the chart, on the 
board, in print and script form, and it goes without saying 
that the children enjoy these lessons. Call this play if you 
please. If the children learn more by play than by joyless 
drudgery, we should prefer play every time. Now, substi- 
tuting the movable letters, the art of joining letters to make 
words can be learned quite rapidly even by the dullest child. 
"How long does it take an average class to master the 
art of reading sufficiently to take up the first reader ? " I 
asked several teachers at different places. 

"About three or four months, never more. Sometimes 

a specially bright class gets 
into the first reader after six 
weeks." Think of it, and 
then compare this with the 
fact that our English-speak- 
ing children in America, 
owing to the incongruity of 
English spelling, are worried 
with the words of the primer 
and charts for more than a 
year ! 

3. Another Device for 
THE Little Ones. 



v/.'/M//////////////y//'///w//////,'///.'/// 



■T^WT 



'\ 



THE SPACE ABOVE AND BELOW 

THE APERTURES IS USED AS 

BLACKBOARD. 



Fig. 



A truly ingenious device 
is the apparatus I wish to 
describe here. I saw it in 
Hamburg first and after- 
ward in other German schools. It is used to facilitate the 
teaching of reading. The two sketches (3 and 3) below may 
assist me in my description. 



ANOTHER DEVICE FOR THE LITTLE OXES. 9 

It is a blackboard, two feet square, with three apertures, 
two of which appear covered by a board in the rear. Into 
convenient slits are shoved strips of strong pasteboard, on 
which are printed letters or syllables. The strips containing 
the vowels are shoved from right to left, or vice versa ; the 
slats containing the consonants are shoved up and down. 



^^ 



^m 



/ yy///y///////////>//y//////y/Ay///2v////^ ^^ ^ ^ ^^ 




f 




Tf 


r 




d 


d 




r 


b 




s 


s 




sh 



Fig. 3. 



Every movement creates a new word, " possible or impossi- 
ble"; but the characters printed on the strips are exceed- 
ingly well selected and grouped, so that their arrangement 
is made easy. 

Of course, a beginner will find some difficulty in hand- 



10 HAMBURG. 

ling the apparatus; but it is quickly learned, and the teacher 
whom I saw use it handled it with such a velocity that no 
awkward pauses interrupted the lesson. There were a great 
number of slats, some containing only single letters, some 
combinations, as c/i, sh, st, ck, etc. ; others containing syl- 
lables which are apt to occur often, as be, dis, in, etc. 

The advantages connected with this apparatus consist in 
this: 1. It offers to the eye of the little pupils only one word 
at first. Their attention is not diverted by a large number 
of words, such as are found on a chart or on a page of the 
primer. 2. The word, is easily changed by changing one 
letter, as, for instance, man to can, fan, ran, Dan, etc. This 
change is made before the eyes of the pupils, who will 
readily see that the remainder of the word remains the same. 
3. It obviates the difficulty of writing whole strings of words 
on the blackboard. 4. On the charts or in the primer the 
words are fixed, and the pupils are apt to learn them by 
heart. This is prevented, since the words in the apparatus 
change kaleidoscopically. 

The apparatus is accompanied by a box containing some 
forty to fifty slats. (For the convenience of my English- 
speaking readers I have pictured English letters in my 
sketch.) 

4. Penmanship. 

On my tour through German, Dutch, and French schools, 
I saw only one in which copy-books for instruction in pen- 
manship were in use. Nevertheless, the writing of the 
pupils was remarkably regular, and in many cases elegant. 
I found it so everywhere in Prussia, from Hamburg to Ma- 
yence. This absence had struck me as well worthy of note. 
When I did see the copy-book in use, near Hamburg, I 
thought it time to inquire about it, and the reply was as 
ludicrous as it was sensible: " My dear sir, my school is un- 
der punishment. Because the boys had acquired negligent 
habits, and handed in poorly written compositions and home 
exercises, I made them procure copy-books and practice good 



PENMANSHIP. 11 

forms of letters. The boys are fully aware of the fact that 
they are, calligraphically, ' under a cloud,' and try hard to 
redeem themselves and regain their former standard. 

" As a rule, we do not use copy-books, starting* from the 
principle that the pupils need no special instruction in pen- 
manship, if they write well whatever they write. This is 
the rule in our school. From the lowest grade upward 
good writing is insisted upon, and the teachers take good 
care never to hurry their pupils much in their written 
work. The teachers themselves never write negligently on 
the board, so that the pupils have only good models. The 
result of this practice is so apparent that it needs no em- 
phatic assurance. 

" Copy-books are an excuse for bad penmanship. If the 
pupils write well during the short space of two or three les- 
sons a week, and hurriedly and slovenly during all the re- 
mainder of the week, the practice in the copy-book will not 
produce good penmen. Penmanship is an art which can 
be maintained only if practiced constantly. Just as little as 
it will do to be good, kind, and obedient during the early 
lesson in religion and morals, and unruly, bad, and vicious 
during the remainder of the day, will it do to permit the 
habit of poor penmanship to grow upon the pupils." 

The answer seemed to me so convincing that I considered 
it worth quoting. I asked, " What do you do to teach ar- 
tistic forms, various styles of penmanship, forms of beauty, 
and hne initials ? " The answer was : 

" We do not teach them ; do not want to attempt such 
things. If any of our pupils wish to learn them, let them 
apply to a special school of calligraphy. The teachers in the 
common school teach what is necessary to a common-school 
education. All specialties must be excluded." 

This answer indicated that the teacher had a correct idea 
of the end and aim toward w^hich he was steering. I find 
this generally to be the case in these German schools. Each 
teacher knows exactly what he aims at. He has his rules 
and regulations, and his course of study, and he know^s them 



12 



HAMBURG. 



by heart. His thorough professional training enables him 
to steer his way clear of impediments such as beset the way 
of any one who is not clear on what he wants. It remains 
ever true that he who knows what he wants will find a way 
hoiv to obtain it. 

5. A New Scheme for Ventilation. 

When it is found inconvenient to raise or lower the win- 
dow for the purposes of ventilation, a little device like the one 
represented in the cut (4) may be applied. I find it in use 
all over Germany, where many class-rooms are overcrowded, 
and where the pupils' seats are standing very near the win- 
dows. This ventilator is constructed like our Venetian shut- 
ters, only that the slats are of glass. Each slat is set in a 
brass groove which ends in a pin or pivot. The different 



"4 




Fig. 4. 



slats are connected by a simple device, and may be opened 
wide, or only a trifle, as may be desirable. 

6. "HOME-OLOGY." 

" Heimathskunde," knowledge of home and its surround- 
ings, is what they term primary geography in Germany. 



HOME-OLOGY. 



13 



In order to give the reader an idea of what is done in the 
primary grades, a few suggestions may suffice, I heard 
some lessons in "horae-ology" in Hamburg, and enjoyed 
them very much. I may be allowed to give the results of 




Fig. 5. 



the lesson in the form of a sketch-map. This map (5) was 
made on the board as the lesson proceeded. 

Teacher : In what direction is our school from the Inner 
Alster, or Alster Basin? What street on this side of the 
Basin ? On the opposite side ? On the third ? fourth ? 
What separates the Inner from the Outer Alster ? What 
bridge ? What monuments are erected on the esplanade ? 
In what direction from the Basin is the Nicolai Church ? 



14 HAMBURG. 

The new Polytechnicum ? The theatre ? The Berlin De- 
pot ? On what side of the Alster Basin is the new hotel, the 
Hamburger Hof, situated ? and so forth. Some streets were 
sketched in order to make the picture more vivid. 

Every new item was inserted in the sketch on the board 
drawn by the teacher. Thus the sketch of a city plan g-rew 
by degrees, and the pupils drew or imitated this plan on 
their slates. One can not imagine a more attentive group of 
young children than these were. Each one was eager to 
suggest new points known to him. I copied the sketch 
as the lesson progressed, and hope that its simplicity will 
speak for itself. No teacher can hide his unwillingness to 
follow suit behind so flimsy an excuse as '' I can't draw," for 
the drawing of such a sketch presupposes no training nor 
special skill in drawing. 

When the geographical part of the lesson was well dis- 
posed of, the teacher gave a new zest to the pupils by asking, 
" To whom belongs the theatre, the school, the bridge," etc. ? 
In the most natural way possible the pupils learned some- 
thing of governmental relations, and laid the foundation for 
the subsequent study of history. It caused a merry inter- 
ruption when a little boy thought the school-house belonged 
to Mr. (the janitor). 

In a higher grade of the same school the geography of 
Germany was the topic of the day. It was still "home- 
ology," only with a wider horizon. The teacher began by 
making a few simple lines representing the so-called " mount- 
ain-cross " in Central Europe. After first drawing the Fich- 
tel Mountains, the center of the figure (6), he added the Erz 
Mountains toward the northeast, the Franconian and Thu- 
ringian Forest toward the northwest, the Bohemian and Ba- 
varian Forest toward the southeast, the Franconian and 
Swabian Jura toward the southwest. A few peaks were 
mentioned, as were also the characteristics of these mount- 
ains. Thus, for instance, the silver-mines in Saxony, the 
dense forests in Bohemia, the lovely scenery in Thuringia, 
the caves in the Jura, etc., came in for a few well-remem- 



HOME-OLOGY. 



15 



bered remarks. The teacher always knew when to stop; 
he was discretion personified. 

Now, the teacher drew the four rivers which rise in the 
Fichtel Mountains — namely, Main, Saale, Eger, and Naab — 
showing" and indicating on the map into what main rivers 




Fig. 6. 



they empty. A few important cities and the countries 
around the cross were named. All this information was 
partly given, partly asked for, as the case suggested. 

Now, the complete map, a printed one, was hung up, and 
all the information just gained was looked up. Each item 
was noted, and it made the children fairly glow with enthu- 
siasm when they were able to corroborate the facts of the 
two maps. In a few points the map on the board was cor- 
rected, improved, and completed ; then the lesson closed, and 
now followed the recitation — that is to say, the pupils were 
called upon to state, in answer to leading questions, what 
they remembered of the lesson. My heart was filled with 
joy when I heard them speak out, not like human parrots 
3 



16 HAMBURG. 

who had memorized, but like rational beings who had 
learned by experience. The hour was brought to a close by 
an imaginary journey all over the section the acquaintance 
of which they had just made. Many little items of informa- 
tion were added on this journey. Photogi^aphic views of 
rocks and mountain scenery were exhibited, and they proved 
to be of intense interest to these children, who have no op- 
iwrtunities of seeing a mountain "in nature." 

7. How Literature is taught. 

The common schools of Hamburg have a seven years' 
course, to which is added a class for girls, called selecta. In 
this class I heard a lesson in literature which seemed to me 
worthy of mention. The young ladies had no text-book of 
history of literature, but a book containing copious selec- 
tions from the best German poets and prose writers. They 
read a passage from the " Seventieth Birthday," by Voss, and 
read it well. Then the teacher questioned them about the 
contents of the matter read. It was remarkable how accu- 
rately they reproduced poetical thoughts in prose, and what 
a felicitous choice of words they made. 

After they had proved to be thoroughly familiar with 
the substance of the poem, they were questioned as to the 
kind of poetry it belonged to. And before the pupils made 
the acquaintance of such words as prosody, etc., they had 
learned a good deal of it. Terms like epic, lyric, etc., fell 
like ripe fruit from the tree of experience. After general 
observations, the characters of certain persons in the poem 
were reviewed, the old schoolmaster, the wife, etc., and for 
each discovered trait proofs were searched among the actions 
and sayings of the person referred to. 

Now, the poem was scanned, and the metre was compared 
with that of others. Repeated references to other poems in 
hexameters made this part of the lesson particularly fruitful. 
A vista into the history of literature was then opened by 
first learning something about the author of the poem under 
discussion. The information was given by the teachers, and 



AN EFFICIENT CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM. 17 

the pupils took notes. Then the surroundings which exer- 
cised a beneficial or detrimental influence upon him were 
mentioned, and in this way the horizon of the pupils was 
widened. All their knowledge of the history of literature 
was grouped around a few famous poets. 

Before the lesson, which lasted an hour, was closed, an- 
other poem, '' The Child of Sorrow," by Herder, was read 
in chorus, and then treated like the first one. Again the 
poem was made the nucleus around which w^as grouped the 
knowledge gained. Since this poem was both in contents 
and form different from the other, it afforded ample oppor- 
tunity for contrasts, and thus the knowledge gained was 
brought into bold relief. Of course, this method needs a 
teacher of thorough acquaintance with literature, and its 
history, and one who has the enviable gift of application. 
All others should keep hands off. 



CHAPTER H. 

duisburg {rhenish prussia). 
1. An Efficient City School System. 

DuiSBURG, a town of about sixty thousand inhabitants, 
situated at the confluence of the rivers Ruhr and Rhine, a 
very busy industrial center, has a most remarkable school 
system. I will endeavor to sketch it, not because it is worthy 
of imitation in its organization, for our American school 
system is, in that regard, much more preferable, but because 
a description of the system in Duisburg is a typical one, and 
explains the social conditions of the people. A diagram (7) 
may assist me : 

A is the People's School. It consists of two schools, in 
fact, namely, of A a, five grades of primary schools for both 
sexes, and A b, four grades of intermediate schools for boys 
only. This primary or elementary school rounds off its 



18 



DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



course somewhat — that is, offers its pupils the elements, and 
abstains from all scientific branches. In arithmetic it leaves 
off when simple examples in percentage can be solved. The 
intermediate school takes the boys from the fourth-year 
grade of the primary school if they intend to stay in school 
longer, but can not enter a high-school. This intermediate 
school has a more complete course than our grammar-school, 
teaching geometry and algebra, natural history and science. 



YEAR 
OF LIFE 


6th 


Tth 


8th 


9th 


10th 


11th 


12th 


13th 


14th 


15th 


16th 


17th 


18th 


SCHOOL 
YEAR 


1st 


2d 


3d 


4th 


5th 


6th 


7th 


8th 


9th 


10th 


nth 


12th 


13th 


A« 


















1¥- 


1 




1 
1 






1 1 










A&i 


1 ! 










B. 
C. 
D. 





v:zz-l:::r"i 












* 




L__- 


""~r"n — 






























~~ 1 r" 1 












1 1 1 


SOMECITIE 

PREPARATC 

IN HIGH 




< 

t- 

X 

lij 

CO 


< 

1- 

z 

o 


< 

H 
< 
O 


< 

H 
c 

UJ 


< 

< 


< < < < 


S MAI 
)RY CL 
6CH0C 


'JTAIN 
ASSES 
)LS. 


Q Q S 2 
rn CO 



Fig. 7. 



Although it is not obligatory to stay during the ninth school 
year, many pupils prefer to remain till they are fifteen years 
of age. I have marked that grade with dotted lines and *. 

B is the Girls' High-ScJiool. In other cities it has a pre- 
paratory school of its own, and does not draw its pupils from 
the primary people's school. In many of such schools for 
girls a seventh grade (a selecta) is added, in which young 
ladies are prepared for the teacher's profession. I have 
marked that grade with dotted lines and * also. 

C is a Boys^ High-School, called " Eealschule,'' or "Eeal- 
gymnasium." It pays more attention to natural history, 
natural sciences (physiology, physics, and chemistry), mod- 
ern language, and drawing than does the school marked D. 
Its gi^aduates are admitted to the universities, but not to all 



AN EFFICIENT CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM. 19 

departments. Business men, engineers, and other scientific 
men prefer this school to D. 

D is also a Boys' High- School^ called Gymnasium. In 
France it is called Lyceum ; in America we would call it the 
Boys' Classical Hig-h-School or College. It pays particular 
attention to classical languages, and its graduates are ad- 
mitted to the universities without examination. 

Pupils of both C and D, when they have completed the 
course to lower secunda, pass an examination which abbre- 
viates their three years' term of serving in the army to one 
year. Such one-year soldiers can be recognized in the ranks 
of a regiment by black-and-white borders on their shoulder- 
straps. This privilege of serving only one year instead of 
three is a tribute the Government pays to thorough and ex- 
tended education. 

I know full well that this separation of children into 
different schools according to their social standing and 
worldly circumstances is distasteful to us ; I know that we 
are not apt to imitate this. I also know that this description 
of the German school system is a digression from my text, 
but I deem it desirable, if not necessary, to make this ex- 
planation, so that my readers may judge more intelligently 
as to the merits of certain methods and results that I may 
describe hereafter. The mere statement of this or that be- 
ing accomplished in this or that school year is not always 
a sufficient guide, since the material is vastly different in 
different schools. The people's school contains the poorer, 
ill-fed children ; the others the children of the wealthier and 
more cultivated classes of society. 

Let me add that all these schools are public schools, 
though tuition fees are paid in all of them. The idea of ab- 
solutely free tuition is gaining ground, though, in Germany. 
In order to complete my sketch, I should add that, in addi- 
tion to the schools A, B, C, and D, there is another school 
for boys, called Burger School. Its course is parallel with 
B (see diagram). But, wherever a Biirger school is main- 
tained, the intermediate school of A is omitted. 



20 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



2. The "Mittelschule." 

It is the intermediate or " middle school " (A b) of which 
I desire to give an account. While the city of Duisbm'g 
maintains a great number of elementary schools, it has but 
one intermediate school. I spent a whole day in it. Its 
course of study embraces the following branches : 

1. Religion. — a. Biblical history ; h. Catechism ; c. 
Hymns and Bible verses ; d. History of the Church. 

2. Language. — Only the mother - tongue, a. Reading 
and literature ; h. Composition ; c. Grammar. 

3. Mathematics. — a. Arithmetic completed; h. Algebra, 
elementary ; c. Geometry and mensuration. 

4. Geography. — a. Topographical ; h. Astronomical ; c. 
Political; d. Physical. 

5. History. — a. General history in first year; h. Prus- 
sian history in second year ; c. German history in third 
year; d. Review. 

6. Natural History. — a. Botany in first year ; h. Zo- 
ology in second year. 

7. Physics in third year ; apparatus. 

8. Chemistry and mineralogy in third and fourth years ; 
apparatus. 

9. Drawing. — Free-hand, geometrical, decorative, and 
drawing from solids. 

10. Music. — Theoretical and vocal. 

11. Gymnastics, calisthenics, and with suitable appa- 
ratus. 

A mere glance at this list will reveal the fact that this 
school, which is equal to our grammar-schools in age of 
pupils, in organization, etc., accomplishes more than is done 
in our grammar-schools. First, more in mathematics is of- 
fered ; secondly, history is offered in four years, while with us 
it is confined to home history and to one year or at best two 
years ; thirdly, physics and chemistry are taught, and very 
well, I must say; fourthly, drawing is carried to drawing 



METHODS APPLIED. 21 

from casts and other solid models; fifthly, a regular daily 
lesson in gymnastics is given. Add to all this a daily lesson 
in religion, which I mention merely to state that it takes 
time like other branches of study, and it will be clear to my 
readers that the school offers an education to the lowest 
classes of society such as is not offered in many American 
grammar-schools. 

I do not pretend to insinuate that this should be a criti- 
cism upon our school system, or that I blame our teachers 
and superintendents ; far from it. The reason of this re- 
markable difference in results may be found in the vast 
amount of time which is necessarily spent in mastering the 
outrageous orthography of our English language and in 
other reasons too obvious to mention ; but it is highly in- 
structive to " see ourselves as others see us," or notice what 
others do and measure our results with theirs. 

3. Methods applied. 

It is very probable that the methods applied in this school 
have something to do with the good results achieved. In 
his famous report Horace Mann said: " In Germany I never 
saw a teacher hearing a recitation with a book in his hand, 
nor a teacher sitting while hearing a recitation." This holds 
good still. I passed through six rooms repeatedly during 
the day I spent in the Duisburg " Mittelschule," and saw or 
heard nine lessons or recitations, but not once did I see a 
teacher with a book in his hands, not even during a lesson 
in reading and literature. " I expect you to read so that I 
may understand you instantly," the teacher said to the class ; 
and they did it, to be sure. 

Arithmetic was taught without a text-book. After a 
thorough lesson in division of fractions was completed oral- 
ly, the order came, "Take your books and solve problems 12 
to 18 on page 23." I looked at the book and found it to be a 
small, primer-like looking thing, filled with problems, and 
void of all the explanations that swell our text-books of 
arithmetic. The text-book of algebra was no larger, and for 



22 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

geometry no book at all was used, but the boys entered the 
results of a new lesson in a composition-book. 

I asked for the text-book in grammar, and evoked a 
broad and humorous smile ; but their histories were pretty 
good-sized books. I found no text-book of botany or zo- 
ology, but a valuable collection of objects — dried plants and 
stuffed animals and finely-colored charts. The apparatus 
for instruction in physics was in good condition and filled 
four spacious cupboards. That for chemistry was less costly, 
naturally so, but complete. Their geography contained no 
text; it was simply an atlas. Take it all in all, the teachers 
taught and the pupils saw much, were obliged to do much, 
and then to tell about it orally and in writing. 

That is the whole story in a nutshell. In grammar the 
method was cumulative, not analytic ; in physics and chem- 
istry it was experimental throughout ; in mathematics it was 
demonstrative. Nowhere did I find any parrot-like repeti- 
tion. The only direct appeal to mechanical memorizing was 
made in literature, for which study a great number of fine 
poems were learned, recited, dissected, compared, changed 
into prose, imitated, and, I must say it, enjoyed. 

Shall I say more about the methods applied ? It is scarce- 
ly necessary, if I add that I noticed a truly enviable una- 
nimity among the teachers with reference to their modus 
operandi. Though each teacher is permitted to follow his 
own methods, there seems to be a tacit undei*standing or 
agreement to work into each other's hands. 

4. A District Conference. 

Rather against my inclination, I went a little out of my 
way to attend a meeting of a teachers' association in a dis- 
trict of Lower Rhenish Prussia, and I do not rue it, for it 
gave me a novel experience. It is not too much to say one 
can not find a finer and more intelligent-looking body of 
teachers in deliberation anywhere, unless it be the National 
Council of Educators in America, a body which looks like 
the Roman senate. One thing was particularly pleasing to 



A DISTRICT CONFERENCE. 23 

me : There was no talking for immediate effect, perhaps be- 
cause ^''feminini generis " being- non est. 

The three papers read had been selected by a majority- 
vote after the titles of all on the programme had been made 
public. In other words, the body chose the questions it 
wanted to discuss, and permitted him " who was primed " to 
have the first say. The three papers selected were " Princi- 
ples versus Practice," " The Scope of Arithmetic in the Com- 
mon School," and ''Education in America." 

The first essay was a masterly refutation of such views as 
found utterance in our country under the captivating cap- 
tion, " The Presumption of Brains." It would have done me 
good to see Superintendent Marble in the audience. The 
essayist perhaps never heard of this gentleman, but it seemed 
as though he aimed his words at the author of " Presump- 
tion," etc., directly. The discussion was spirited, but a vote 
of sixty-three to five sustained the position held by the es- 
sayist. 

The second essay showed that the question lately called 
up by General Walker in Boston is being ventilated in Ger- 
many also ; but it was the third paper which challenged my 
admiration. The referee spoke of our American common 
schools with a remarkable degree of familiarity, and proved 
that he had the geography and statistics of our country at 
his fingers' ends. His statistical items were all very well 
sifted and true. I could not help sighing when I unwill- 
ingly compared this accurate knowledge of America on the 
part of German teachers with the Egyptian darkness that still 
prevails in American educational circles about Germany. 

Being called upon to address the meeting, I inquired 
whether the speaker had been in America, that he was en- 
abled to thus speak of the American schools with precision 
and authority. I was told, however, that he had gathered 
his data from publications of our National Bureau of Educa- 
tion in Washington ; that the library of the association con- 
tained a full set of General Eaton's reports and sundry other 
sources of information. 



24 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA), 

Again I had to stifle a sigh, thinking of the isolation of 
thousands of our teachers in America who can be made to 
read only through persuasion and by the Damocles's sword 
of an approaching examination. The men present at this 
meeting were mostly country or village teachers. They 
looked highly intellectual, but had all more or less care- 
worn faces and seemed to labor under heavy stress, such as 
overcrowded school-rooms, poor pay, and perhaps domestic 
cares. 

5. History Teaching. 

Perhaps in all my wanderings through the schools of Eu- 
rope I may never again find such perfect teaching of history 

as I found in a school of D , in Rhenish Prussia. Though 

it is impossible to render the lesson in writing, I will at least 
give my readers an inkling of it. (Pardon the pun, it was 
an unconscious one.) There were two such lessons: one was 
on " The Great Elector of Brandenburg," the other on " Ru- 
dolph of Hapsburg." These lessons, I believe, will never 
fade in my memory. Each was a masterpiece. The classes 
ranked in age with our C grammar classes, or sixth school 
year. 

First, a biographical narrative was given by the teacher, 
who spoke in very simple, appropriate language, but feel- 
ingly with the glow of enthusiasm and the chest-tone of 
conviction. He made each pupil identify himself with the 
hero of the story. The map was frequently used or referred 
to. Bits of poetry, taken from the reader, were interwoven, 
and circumstances of our time, as well as persons of very 
recent history, were mentioned at proper occasions. The 
attention was breathless. 

Secondly, the story was then repeated by pupils who 
were now and then interrupted by leading questions. The 
answers were again used to develop new thoughts not 
brought out by the first narration. Particularly was it 
cause and effect, and the moral value of certain historical 
' actions which claimed the attention of the teacher. To me 



THE PRINCIPLES OF THIS METHOD. 25 

it was very instructive to see these children search for analo- 
gous cases in human life as they knew it. 

Thirdly^ the pupils were led to search in their stores of 
historical knowledge for analogous cases, or cases of decided 
contrast. This gave me an insight into the extent of their 
knowledge. When, for instance, certain civil virtues were 
spoken of, they mentioned cases which revealed a very laud- 
able familiarity with history. But all their knowledge had 
been grouped around a number of centers — that is, great 
men. That is to say, their historical knowledge had been 
gained through biographies. 

Fourthly^ the pupils were told to write, in a connected 
narration, what they had just learned. This proved a fer- 
tile composition exercise, because the pupils had something 
to write about — a thing that is not quite so frequent in 
schools as it seems desirable. I afterward asked the teacher 
for his principles of method in teaching history, and he gave 
them to me at length. The following is an epitome of them : 

6. The Principles of this Method. 

It must be the aim of instruction in history to nourish 
and strengthen all the powers of the soul, interest^ emotion^ 
and volition^ so that the harmonious development of the 
child be assisted and a general interest awakened. 

The pupil's intellect is increased by making him familiar 
with historical deeds, and the circumstances under which they 
were done, with their causes and effects, with various con- 
ditions of life, with persons as they are mirrored in their 
deeds, with the development of the character of persons and 
that of nations. The intellect is particularly nourished by 
affording comparisons and making distinctions ; by causing 
keen judgment and correct conclusions. By means of all 
these, the pupil's thinking power is stimulated and an in- 
sight into political and governmental relations past and 
present is gained, which is important alike for the indi- 
vidual and the state. 

The pupil's heart is influenced by instruction in history, 



26 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

because many great, sublime, noble, and beautiful actions 
and motives are presented, which cause pleasure and lead to 
imitation, unconsciously to the pupil. Again, because his- 
tory shows, in some abominable examples, that evil is pun- 
ished as well as the good rewarded; that justice, though 
slow sometimes, will overtake the evil-doer. 

The pupil's will-power is greatly stimulated by instruc- 
tion in history, because he is warmed and inspired by truth, 
right, and duty, for love of country and his fellow-men. He 
receives an impetus to imitate great deeds. He takes in 
some of that spirit which prompts men to act nobly and 
grandly. The fountain of emotion is the best fountain of 
volition. 

There are, however, some absolutely necessary condi- 
tions: 1. That the teacher of history be a person whose heart 
is full of patriotism, and beats strongly for truth, right, and 
duty. To him should be said, "Take thy shoes from oif 
thy feet, for the ground upon which thou standest is holy 
ground.-' 2. That the instruction be not a mere recital of 
names and dates, of battles and acquisitions of land, nor dis- 
sertations upon abstract ideas and generalities, but, above 
all, a simple narration of deeds and events, and a glowing 
description of persons and circumstances. It must be bio- 
graphical. The most interesting and most ennobling study 
for children is the lives of great men. Biography is the 
first step in our historical course. 

It is necessary, 3. That the teacher connect the new his- 
torical knowledge with circumstances and conditions, such 
as are either known to the pupil, or are near enough at hand 
to draw them into the discussion. Relics and other tangible 
objects, suitable for illustration, should be brought into the 
class-room, if only in pictures. The teacher must be so ob- 
jective in his narratives that the events and creations are 
not only spoken of, but become experiences by natural pro- 
cess of thought. 4. The jDupil should not be allowed to 
remain receptive, but must be induced to be active in this 
study. In this, as in other studies, practice is wanted. The 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING. 27 

pupils must be called upon to reproduce, orally and in writ- 
ing, the matter given them and the thoughts produced in 
them. 

It is necessary, 5. That the teacher should induce his 
pupils to compare similar and dissimilar actions and per- 
sons, and thereby cause judgment upon cause and effect 
from a moral or ethical standpoint, so that not merely the 
intellect be developed, but also the heart and the will. Their 
practical interest is then generated without repressing their 
speculative interest. 6. That instruction in history be 
brought into organic connection with the study of lan- 
guage; for this reason, reading is to be brought in as an 
assistant. Recitations of patriotic poems and ballads can be 
woven in profitably, and that geography must aid history is 
self-evident. 

During the first three years of school, biblical stories, 
references to public men, holidays and festivals, legends and 
stories, and a few biographical attempts are the proper mat- 
ter there. After that, a biographical history should begin, 
which may widen with each succeeding year, so that the 
historical horizon of the child is extended simultaneously 
with that in other studies. 

If the common school gives that kind of instruction 
in history — it need not be great in amount — it is doing 
much better than teaching higher arithmetic and book- 
keeping. 

7. Practical Instruction in Drawing. 

I doubt not, that it will be of interest to manj^ teachers 
in the Union to learn how drawing is taught here in city 
schools. This branch of " study " has so recently been in- 
troduced into the American schools, or rather, it has been 
made an obligatory branch of the curriculum so recently, 
that it may be said to be still in its infancy with us. Here, 
in Germany, drawing, as a branch of study, is much older, 
and more can, therefore, be expected, and better results should 
be exhibited. But, to speak candidly, when comparing the 



28 



DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



7 

/ 



/ / 


7 

' / 
/ 



VZI\ 



\ 



\, / 



\ 











Series I.— Figs. 8-17. 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING. 



29 



drawings exhibited in New Orleans, Madison, Topeka, and 
Chicago, with w^hat I find here in crowded class-rooms, 
where seventy and more pupils are seated, I can not say that 




Figs. 18-2G. 



the work is better, certainly not as showy. A standard of 
measurement is wanting for a true comparison. Still, de- 
spite the absence of glittering results and show, I suspect, 



30 



DUISBURG (RHENISn PRUSSIA). 



JS V 



^ 











Y 













\| 



^ 










Series IX.— Figs. 27-3T 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING. 31 




V 

Series Xni.— Figs. 38-46. 



32 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

more results en masse, and a more general and deeper cult- 
ure are obtained here. 

Perhaps I may with impunity say, also, that instruction 
in drawing here in Prussia is more practical. In order to 
prove this, I will say that I found drawing of objects quite 
frequently. The objects used as models are furnished by a 
Hamburg firm. They are made of hard wood, and are so 
plentifully furnished that there is one for every two or three 
pupils. Each pupil draws the object as he sees it — that is, in 
the position in which it is placed before him. I can not 
explain this better than by copying a number of series 
drawn by classes in my presence. The models were all the 
same in size, given to the classes that day as new subjects. 
The work was free-hand drawing, and as such very credita- 
ble. I copied the accompanying sketches, omitting all con- 
struction lines. They are here offered on a smaller scale, so 
as to permit their insertion in this book. 

The series I and IX are the two extremes, so far as diffi- 
culty in representing is concerned. Their simplicity cer- 
tainly speaks for them. I found them used as models for 
drawing, for clay-modeling, pasteboard work, wood chiseling 
and sawing in manual training schools. Before I dismiss 
this subject, I must not neglect to say that the girls are ex- 
cluded from this drawing of solids. They draw convention- 
alized leaf and plant forms, and learn their application in 
knitting, crocheting, embroidering, lace-making, and weav- 
ing. Leaves pasted on cardboard are used in great number, 
and forms of beauty of no mean kind are the result. The 
reader is referred to pages 123-134, where the girls' industrial 
education is spoken of at length. 

8. Learning to shade in Drawing. 

Being thoroughly convinced of the practicability of in- 
struction in drawing solids, I was pleased to find my opinion 
shared by many teachers in Germany. The difficulty which 
seems to puzzle many teachers is, to find suitable objects, 
simple enough to avoid the great obstacle, which consists 



LEARNING TO SHADE IN DRAWING. 33 




Figs. 47-62. 



34 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

in the pupils not seeing the covered lines. The solids used 
here are so simple that they are admirably adapted for the 
elementary schools. 

After a body is conceived in outlines the shading begins, 
and this is done by using casts, a copy of which is inserted 
on page 33. A very strong light is allowed to fall from 
the left on the cast, which is hung up on the blackboard. 
The dark background makes the white cast shine, as it were, 
and the shadows on the cast are distinctly seen. I have 
provided myself with sufficient copies of pupils' work to 
prove that this drawing of solids is possible in the element- 
ary schools. One glance at page 33 will suffice to convince 
the reader that these casts are easily obtainable. Indeed, 
any person may model them in clay, and then cast them, by 
setting the models in a frame and pouring plaster over them. 
When the plaster is dry and hard it can be separated from 
the model, and a new cast may be made. In some schools I 
found the models made of clay by the pupils themselves. 

The system in use here is decidedly more practical than 
others I saw in use in France, inasmuch as it deals with 
only a limited number of objects, and never leaves out of 
sight the fact that the common school is, and can only be, 
an elementary school. It proves immortal Goethe's maxim : 
"In der Beschrankung zeigt sich der Meister." 

The method of shading is different in different schools, 
sometimes even in different classes of the same school. 
While some teachers used lines of various thickness to repre- 
sent shadow, others, by far the majority, use the leather 
stump. The reader is also referred to pages 233-235, and 
272-281, where the results and methods of drawing in other 
German schools are shown. In Chapter XII, Paris, the 
French mode of procedure in drawing is stated. 

9. Female Teachers in Gerihany. 

Though I spent several weeks in German schools, I had 
only heard men teach. But one day I heard two ladies 
teach, and model lessons they gave. The first was a lesson 



FEMALE TEACHERS IN GERMANY. 35 

in reading, according to the word and phonic method com- 
bined, or, to speak scientifically, the analytic-synthetic meth- 
od. An object-lesson on " fish " introduced the reading. 
When that was closed, oral splitting of the word fish into 
sounds followed. The teacher pronounced the word slow- 
ly, thus bringing out each sound clearly, so that the little 
urchins could recognize and separate them. Then the word 
was written, copied, and other words were made of material 
(sounds and letters) previously learned, till at the close of the 
lesson a great number of new words were read and learned. 
These were combined into little sentences. 

The second lesson I heard a lady give w^as in religion. 
The topic was the announcement or prophecy of Christ's 
birth to Mary, the pious virgin. The children were on an 
average eight years old, and the teacher a young, sweet- 
looking girl. I assure my readers that, though the teacher 
proceeded with laudable tact and much i^edagogical skill, 
the lesson left an unsavory taste, there being too much cant 
in it to please me. 

As a rule, the women teachers in Germany, I am told, 
teach well in the lower grades, and only there. Middle and 
higher grades of school are closed to them. During the 
grand upward start which business took in Germany after 
the re-establishment of the empire, so many men left the 
school-room to join the chase after the golden calf, that the 
Government w^as obliged to engage women to teach school. 
At present they are numbered by the thousand. 

I inquired whether they could not be promoted, and in 
due time be elected principals. The inspector with whom I 
conversed on the subject of women teachers replied with a 
holy for shall I say unholy ?) horror : " No, never, as long 
as the father is the head of the family. It would be as un- 
natural as crowing hens. A weak, indulgent man may sur- 
render his breeches to his wife ; such cases are found, of 
course, but these exceptions do not shake, but confirm the 
rule. Besides, the Government is fully aware that the women 
can not govern the men, a thing which they would have 



36 DUISBUKC, (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

to do if they were made the heads of schools. Such a thing 
woukl be contrary to all precedents, and to the eternal fit- 
ness of things, as conceived by us Germans." 

Having' thus given me a bit of his own mind, he snatched 
up a paper containing extracts from a recent novel by 
Walter Besant, saying, ''Here is an Englishman with whom 
I fully agree." I quote: 

" There are many points of distinction between the mas- 
culine and the feminine mind; as, that the w^oman is not 
happy unless she is quite sure and certain, and that the man 
gets along very comfortably under a sense of uncertainty ; 
also, that any man who disagrees with a woman is, to her, 
an utterly contemptible peVson, while to a man, he is only a 
person with a curious mental twist. But the most distinct- 
ive of all these points is, that a vroman never invents anj^- 
thing, or wants to change anything, or to improve any 
methods or ways of doing things. In order to illustrate this 
proposition, consider the common house-maid, the common 
household cook, and the household nurse-maid. The first 
of these has never been known to show the smallest inven- 
tion in the laying of a fire, nor the second in constructing a 
dish, nor the third in dressing a baby. " 

His own metaphors dissuaded me as little as this quota- 
tion did, of the ntitural right of women to rise and take a 
hand in the government of the world ; and that the school, 
as a world in miniature, is the proper place for women to 
begin to show their executive and administrative powei*s. 
But, being on my guest-behavior, I changed the subject. 
Strange, however, but true it is. that from the moment I had 
asked that question, I was looked upon with suspicion, and 
the confidence of the otherwise pleasant and kindly-spoken 
man was as though it had dried up. 

How deep-rooted the prejudice against female teachers is 
here in Germany may be seen, also, from the fact that the 
male teachers club together in the yard during recess, leav- 
ing the ladies to amuse themselves. Oh, yes, they speak to 
them, and politely salute them by uncovering their heads 



TENURE OF OFFICE. 3Y 

" as they pass by," but no professional discussion, no social 
conversation, not even a bit of small talk, takes place. All 
such professional ties seem to be forbidden by an unwritten 
but well-understood law. I leave my readers to draw their 
own conclusions. 

10. Tenure of Office. 

There is one feature of the German schools which de- 
serves attention and imitation — I mean the stability of the 
teacher's position. After he has completed his course in the 
normal school, he is assigned to duty somewhere or elected 
by a community for a two years' probation. Whether he 
has succeeded well or not, at the end of this time he is called 
upon to pass his "repetition examination." Having passed 
that, he is free from all further examinations, and can settle 
down permanently, since his position is not endangered by 
political rotation or any other causes, except his own errors, 
such as neglect of duty, etc. 

He lives either in the school-house or in a neighboring 
dwelling, fitted up by the community as the " schoolmaster's 
house," as a parsonage is fitted u]) for the parson by the 
church authorities. Being thus safely housed, and having 
no such Damocles's sword as a change in the political com- 
plexion of the school board to fear (in fact, there is no school 
board), his future is assured. Now he naturally begins to 
" gather moss," like a stone safely imbedded in the loam of 
the woods. By that, I mean, he increases his library, and 
devotes his leisure hours to some hobby. Some teachers 
resort to agriculture or floriculture (every school-house in 
small towns or villages has a few acres of land for garden- 
ing purposes) ; some raise silk-worms or bees, or start a nur- 
sery of trees ; others make collections of beetles, butterflies, 
and minerals. Again, others resort to some kind of manual 
labor, such as turning, scroll-saw working. A great many 
choose literature as their leisure-hour occupation. Nearly 
all foster music, and act as musical directors and conductors 
of choirs and as organists in churches. 



38 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

In short, they " gather moss " like an ancient pike in a 
well-stocked carp-pond. This stability of office engenders 
a good deal of conservatism, which, queer as it may seem, 
rarely manifests itself in their methods of teaching; for local, 
district, provincial, state, and national teachers' meetings, 
an educational press of most formidable powers, frequent 
visits of royal school commissioners, and the competition 
engendered by friendly visits of colleagues, prevent a stag- 
nation in school. 

Being curious to know the political proclivities of an old 
friend of mine, who had become a fixture in a small town 
of Rhenish Prussia, I frankly asked him. Said he: "Do 
you know that the Roman citizen was a Roman first, and 
a Roman last ; right or wrong, he was a Roman forever ? 
Well, my friend, I am teacher first, last, and all the time." 
I accepted this circumlocution for the term "mugwump," 
and changed the subject. 

11. Miscellaneous Notes. 

An Idyl. — Curiosity induced me to visit the place in the 
country where I gained my first experience in teaching. It 
was a pretty little village, situated between two industrial 
centers, and inhabited by vegetable gardeners, who had an 
average of ten or fifteen acres of land, rarely more. The 
village had not changed materially within a quarter of a 
century. The half of a millstone in front of the school- 
house, serving as a doorstep, was still there, and through its 
square aperture grew the grass as it did twenty-five years 
ago. The school-house was as dilapidated as it was then, 
only a little more so. The church tower had received a new 
coat of slate, a few new houses had been built, others had 
been repaired. The same fine linden-trees off'ered shadow to 
the school-yard ; and, indeed, the picturesque village seemed 
to have slept the sleep of the Sleeping Beauty, while within 
sight of the top of the steeple industrial centers had grown 
from twenty thousand to eighty thousand inhabitants within 
that time. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 39 

The principal teacher, however, was a different sort of 
man from the morose fellow who used to hold sway there 
and made my life unbearable. The American can not 
imagine how peaceful the life of a German country school- 
master is. He is secure in his position. Nothing- but mis- 
conduct or gross neglect of duty on his part can remove 
him. He has no rent to pay, but lives in the upper stories 
of the school-building, where he has from five to eight rooms 
and a high garret. Usually a large garden is at his disposal. 
Let me tell you of the present incumbent. 

This teacher's life is a perfect idyl. His young assistants 
worship him, his pupils love him, his fellow-villagers respect 
him, call for his prudent advice, and, what is more, believe 
in it implicitly. He is the universally respected arbiter in 
all questions of dispute, and is welcomed in every house of 
the village. In his leisure hours he is a gardener, and the 
culture of roses is his special hobby. I have seen many fine 
collections of roses in my life — I even dabble a little in that 
line myself — but my astonishment was boundless when I saw 
the results of this man's patient labor. Thousands of varie- 
ties of roses, hundreds of colors and sizes, from the lovely 
carnation centifolia and orange Marshal Neil to the dwarfed 
pink-colored May rose and yellow Lilliput rose — all were 
there. 

His young assistants and his elder pupils vie with each 
other in helping him in his work of floriculture, so that 
there is nothing left for him to do but to direct and super- 
vise. But he never forgets that he is teacher first and gar- 
dener afterward. First duty, then pleasure. The man is 
about fifty years old, and is not married. A housekeeper 
from the village attends to the duties indoors. Though this 
idyllic picture is rather out of place in this book, I could not 
refrain from painting it, to show our American country 
teachers what is in store for them if they will agitate the 
question of tenure of office more vigorously. 

Herbart versus Pestalozzi. — There is a war carried on 
here in Germany at present between the disciples of Pesta- 



40 DUISBURG (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

lozzi and those of Herbart — a war which promises to be more 
beneficial than destructive. My American readers can not 
conceive of the intensity and earnestness displayed by the 
combatants. Here in Rhenish Prussia the " Herbartians " 
are holding meetings, discussing- Herbart's and Ziller s prin- 
ciples and methods, and the bookstalls are full of pamphlets, 
books, and journals, which all refer to the question at issue. 
Elsewhere, I am told, the same question is agitating the 
minds of teachers, notably in Thuringia and Saxony. 

I attended a meeting of the "Herbartians," to which 
representatives of Diisseldorf, Crefeld, Duisburg, Miihlheim, 
Essen, Elberfeld, Barmen, Solingen, Gladbach, and many 
other towns had been sent. I was deeply impressed with 
the profundity with which Herbart's psychology and Ziller's 
concentric circles were discussed from three till after eight 
o'clock, P. M. What pleased me most was the absence of all 
personal wrangling, and not a word of disrespect to Pesta- 
lozzi and other educational reformers fell from the lips of 
the speakers. My interest grew amazingly when I exam- 
ined the shelves of a bookstall later and found no less 
than sixty books, pamphlets, and exercise-books of very 
recent origin all discussing and exemplifying the "great 
question." Well, I own that I left the book-store with an 
armful of pamphlets and books, and poorer by thirty-five 
marks. 

j In the face of such literary activity, such thorough scien- 
' tifi-c discussion, I heave a deep sigh, thinking of the peace- 
ful mental slumber of thousands of our American teachers, 
who do not even read an educational journal, and at edu- 
cational gatherings have nothing to say, but suffer them- 
selves to be read to by essayists, and in the school-room do 
merely what they are ordered to do. I shall not venture to 
enter upon the discussion of the disputed question until I 
have seen the schools of Saxony and Thuringia, and have 
studied my armful of books. I am like that German pro- 
fessor who was asked for his opinion on a question which 
he had never approached. His answer was, " I've got to read 



THE WHOLE NATION A SCHOOL. 41 

a lecture on that question before I can answer you." So, 
then, more anon. 

Hospitality of Teachers. — It is no more than simple 
justice to state that I have found a hospitality among- the 
teachers here which can nowhere be found in like manner 
except in America. In America, especially west of the ille- 
ghanies and in the South, hospitality is one of the most pro- 
nounced virtues of the people, and I know whereof I am 
speaking, having traveled much in America, and having 
had opportunities to compare French, Dutch, and German 
customs with our American customs. Wherever I go here 
in Germany I find among teachers a truly American hos- 
pitality which it is difficult to resist. I deem it just and 
proper to state this fact in my reports to my American 
brethren. 



CHAPTER III. 

dusseldorf (rhenish prussia). 
1. The Whole Nation a School. 

My admiration for the schools in Germany grows when 
I notice the consistent help different institutions for edu- 
cational and scientific purposes are rendering each other. 
Thus, for instance, I see in Diisseldorf on the Rhine that 
the common schools, as well as the several high-schools (the 
Gymnasium, Realschule, and Young Ladies' Academy), 
stand in close connection and intimate relation to the man- 
agement of the Art Academy, the Art Museum, the Zoologi- 
cal and Botanical Garden, the Observatory, the libraries, 
the gynmastic societies, and even the theatre, in fact, with 
every institution which in some degree may be influential in 
assisting the work in school. 

Plants are ordered for the study of botany at the Botan- 
ical Garden. Certain hours are fixed at the Zoological Gar- 



42 DUSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

den for visits of the classes in zoology ; admission free. 
Classes in drawing are taken to the art collections and muse- 
ums, where the teacher of advanced classes gives a lesson 
monthly. The libraries are open to the pupils on presenta- 
tion of a membership ticket issued by the rector of the 
sehc^l. Classes in literature go with their teachers to see 
classic performances in the theatre. The schools having 
small but very valuable collections frequently exchange 
specimens with the curator of the museum or even make 
loans. And so on, to every department of the curriculum, 
some institution outside of school offers assistance free of 
charge. 

The more I look about me here in Germany, the more am 
I impressed with the fact that the whole nation is one great 
educational institution. Churches have their reserved seats 
for school children ; theatres offer classic performances for 
students ; gardens and parks are open to children ; play- 
grounds are provided with flower-beds for children; gym- 
nastic halls and apparatus are erected for the use of pupils 
of the city schools ; in fine, all efforts are made to put public 
instruction upon a rational basis and to make education con- 
tagious. We Americans have much to learn from these 
"barbarians." 

2. Singing in German Schools. 

Ah, but what an inexhaustible spring of musical talent is 
found in German schools ! These children sing divinely. 
Their teachers all play the violin more or less well and have 
a thorough theoretical training in music, teach the notes, 
and generally conduct the musical performances of their 
classes as leaders of orchestras do instrumental music — that 
is to say, they beat time, keep the different parts in har- 
mony, stimulate here, depress there, and work like good 
fellows. The results are touchingly beautiful. I heard 
three- and four-part music in the upper grades of common 
schools. 

Many a time I heard the teacher call upon a single pupil 



A NOVEL EXERCISE IN MUSIC. 43 

to sing alone, as we should expect him to read alone. They 
consider this reciting in music. In one city on the Lower 
Ehine I heard a mass-chorus which touched me to the quick. 
The children sang patriotic airs with an artistic finish which 
quite upset me. An old gentleman who had accompanied 
rae was moved to tears. 

Our American city schools are doing a noble thing in 
awakening the musical sense of the nation. The adult 
American, as a rule, is not musical. General Grant used to 
say: "I know but two tunes. One is 'Yankee Doodle,' and 
the other — isn't." And if we were to inquire among our 
Anglo-American friends, we should find that the older gen- 
eration is not any more musically inclined than General 
Grant. But in the younger generation a great love and 
comprehension for music makes itself felt, w^hich is fostered 
by easy melodious home-made airs such as " Grandfather's 
Clock," " Wait till the Clouds Eoll By," etc. Inferior as 
these airs may be, it will not do to undervalue their great 
influence upon the latent musical talent of our American 
conglomerate. Some generations may yet pass away before 
we can find such a school in New England as I saw here, 
where, among four hundred and eighteen pupils, only two 
were found without a musical ear. 

3. A Novel Exercise in Music. 

I noticed a novel exercise in vocal music which I deem 
worthy of mention. The teacher wrote the lines of a pretty 
little poem on the musical staff painted on the board and 
called upon certain pupils to compose a new melody. The 
first pupil looked at the first line thoughtfully awhile, and 
then struck out, giving a very acceptable air. The teacher 
asked her to repeat it, and then fixed it by writing it in 
notes. The second pupil then followed with a continuation 
which was less acceptable. Another suggested a little but 
vital improvement which made the line much more accept- 
able. Again a new line was added, till the four lines were 
finished. Now the teacher played the tune, suggesting two 



44 DtJSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

more, though slight changes, and indeed the melody seemed 
very pretty. 

Nov/ it was harmonized, A pupil was called upon to 
write the second part (the alto). ' This he did, with some er- 
rors, which were speedily detected by other pupils. An- 
other added a third part (the tenor). Of course, this took 
longer than it takes me to write about it ; but within the 
short space of thirty-five minutes the three parts were all 
down on the board. They were tested on the violin and 
found to harmonize quite well. Now followed a grand 
rehearsal — that is, the class sang the newly composed song. 
Again a few changes were found desirable, and again it was 
tried, till it met the approval of the teacher. There was 
no need of attention to the order of the room. The order 
was perfect, simply because all the pupils were intensely in- 
terested. The lesson was brought to a close by the request 
to copy the new song into their manuscript music-books. I 
have rarely enjoyed a singing lesson* as much as I did this 
one. 

The school in which this brilliant theoretical instruction 
in music was witnessed gave me the pleasure of hearing 
choruses of wonderful sweetness. The text was sung so 
well, emphasis or expression was so excellently brought out, 
that no professional choir could sing better. The fresh me- 
tallic sound in the voices of these German youngsters is 
quite enjoyable. 

4. "Nature-Description." 

Don't frown at this heading, fair reader. I have put it 
down for a reason. Our English term " natural histoiy " is 
faulty, inasmuch as it is anything but history, so far as we 
teach it in the common school. Whatever criticism may be 
urged against the teachers here in Germany, they can not 
be said to be hazy in their technical terms. They do not 
use such terms as botany, zoology, physiology, but German 
translations which, while they are more precise, at the same 
time convey a meaning to the child, being grown, as it were, 



" NATURE-DESCRIPTION." 45V 

out of German roots: " Pfianzen-Beschreibung " for botany, 
" Thier-Beschreibung " for zoology, etc. So, please, familiar- 
ize yourself, my candid and patient reader, with this " odd " 
heading and follow me into a school representing the sixth 
school year. Here I heard a lesson in '' Thier-Beschrei- 
bung " which might be said to be an ideal lesson. It is im- 
possible to give the whole lesson; only essentials must suf- 
fice. 

Orang-outmig and sundry other apes were the subject. 
Teacher, showing the large picture of the orang-outang, and 
saying that, for want of time, they had only barely touched 
upon this subject yesterday, asked: "What do you remem- 
ber having heard of this animal ? '' A rather insignificant- 
looking specimen of the genus homo sapiens answered : 
" The orang outang is a monkey which resembles the human 
being more than other monkeys. But there are more dis- 
similarities than similarities, I think. He is called orang- 
outang, because that means ' forest man ' or ' wood-man ' on 
account of his similarity with man. He is very fierce and 
vicious and of huge strength." 

Teacher. "That is about all we said yesterday about him. 
Now, let us proceed. Let us hunt up some of the similarities 
as well as dissimilarities between him and man." 

Pupil. " His face looks like that of an old man." (Went 
to the board and wrote under the heading "similarities." 
"Looks like an old man.") 

Teacher. " From this picture it is plainly visible that this 
must be a young specimen, for the older the monkey gets 
the more will the jaws grow outward and the forehead re- 
cede, so that in old age this monkey will look more like a 
ferocious beast than like man." Eepeat this thought. 

Pupil. "John said the orang-outang looks like an old 
man on this picture. Then this must be a young specimen, 
for in old age he looks more beast-like." 

Teacher. " What changes take place in his face in the 
course of time ? " 

Pupil. "His jaws grow outward and his forehead re- 



46 DtrSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

cedes." (Went to the board and jotted down, "Jaws and 
forehead change with age.") 

Teacher. " What other observations ? " 

Pupil. " He is like man covered with hair ; but while 
man's hair is very short and scarcely visible, the monkey is 
covered with fur-like hair." (Made appropriate note on the 
board without being called upon.) 

Pupil. " Certain parts of his body are not covered with 
hair; for instance, the ears and the inside of the hands. In 
this he resembles man also." (Note on the board.) 

Pupil. " I have read somewhere that the teeth of this 
monkey are exactly like human teeth." 

Teacher. " I am glad you tell us that. Then by examin- 
ing our own teeth we may infer from them as to this ani- 
mal's teeth." (Now followed a description of the human 
teeth, size, kind, use, growth, etc., an interesting digression 
from the lesson of the day, one which revealed some knowl- 
edge of physiology and hygiene.) "So, then, we have an- 
other point of similarity ; what is it ? " 

Pupil. " He has a complete set of teeth like that of the 
human being." (Note on the board.) 

Pupil. " We can't tell his size from the picture. What 
is it ? " 

Teacher. " He never grows any bigger than a boy of 
fourteen years, but his strength is greater. Now, repeat this 
statement and make a note of it." (It is done.) 

Pupil. " His color is chestnut-brown." 

Teacher. " Now some one may repeat connectedly all the 
points mentioned so far." (This ^vas done, and errors in 
language were corrected " on the spot." This connected de- 
scription was repeated by a pupil.) 

Pupil. " It appears from this picture that the arms of the 
orang-outang are very long." (Note.) 

Pupil. " His feet are like hands." 

Teacher. " True ; he has four hands. But what is the 
difference between hand and foot ? " 

PupU. " On the hand the thumb can make a movement 



"NATURE-DESCRIPIIOX." 47 

opposite to that of the fiiigers. This enables the hand to 
grip or grasp. The big toe can not do that." 

Teacher. " What, then, is the characteristic of the 
hand ? " 

Pupil. " The hand can gi'asp, the foot can not." 

Teacher. " The monkey walks on his hands, sometimes 
erect on his hind hands. Sometimes, especially when he is 
in a hurry, he walks on his four hands. Eepeat this." 
(Whenever the teacher made a statement or a pux)il brought 
out something new, the pupils had to repeat it.) 

Pupil. " His arms reach to his ankles, while ours are 
shorter. The orang-outang can grasp things with his hind 
hands as Avell as with the other two." 

Teacher. " Yes, an interesting fact is that some monkeys 
have only two hands. But all who have only two hands 
have them on their hind-legs, while their two feet are on the 
fore-legs or arms." (Repeat this.) 

Pupil. " I notice that this orang-outang has hair on his 
arms which grows up and downward. How is that ? " 

Teacher. " Look at the arms carefully. What do you 
see ? " 

Pupil. "The hair on his upper arm grows downward; 
that on his lower arm grows upward." 

Teacher. " What do you infer from this ? " 

Pupil. " That he must raise his lower arms much." 

Teacher. " Yes, I believe we may safely say that. Now, 
let us repeat connectedly what we heard and mention all the 
points gathered." (This is done, and with the aid of the 
numerous notes on the board done very handsomely. These 
reviews occurred frequently, and they served to " take up 
loose stitches " here and there.) 

Teacher. " He walks erect generally, but has a drag- 
ging gait because he has no knee-pans. When pursued he 
climbs on high trees and hides himself in the foliage. He 
is not as skillful as other monkeys in climbing, but rather 
clumsy. He feeds on fruit and birds' eggs. He is here 
pictured with a stick in his hand, which he seems to use 



48 DUSSELDORF (RHExVISH PRUSSIA). 

as a cane. It is likely that the orang-outang is often 
found walking with a stick, perhaps owing to his inability 
to stand erect long. He makes his nest on high trees, se- 
lecting strong branches. On these he lays smaller ones, 
with thick foliage to make the couch soft. Being very shy, 
he is not often found. He changes his couch frequently and 
is unsociable." 

Pupils repeat the several new statements and seem to en- 
joy them. They are again repeated by some in a connected 
manner. 

Teacher. " His home is on the islands of Borneo and 
Sumatra." (These are looked up on the map.) " The people 
there — of course I mean the aborigines — say of the orang- 
outang, that he could talk if he wanted to, but keeps quiet 
because he is afraid that he would have to work if he be- 
trayed the fact that he could talk. The Europeans know 
better. His voice is heard in shrill screams and angry 
howling. It is said, but has never been observed by Euro- 
peans, that he drives elephants with a stick. These are 
probably legends. He can not stand our climate, and if 
caught and brought north on board of a steamer he gener- 
ally dies before he reaches Europe. Very few specimens 
have ever been seen in zoological gardens." (This new 
batch of statements is treated like all the foregoing — that 
is, repeated, sketched in shortest expressions on the board, 
and rounded oflp and polished to secure good style.) 

Teacher. " That the orang-outang is an animal of higher 
type may be seen from his quickness of perception and his 
skill in imitation. There was one in a zoological garden 
who had been fastened to a chain. At certain stated peri- 
ods the waiter came to loosen his chain and take him out 
walking. Of course, the waiter opened the padlock which 
fastened the chain to the cage. The ape saw him use a key, 
and one day he took a little chip and tried to open the pad- 
lock himself. So, you see, he had not only seen something, 
but remembered it, and now wanted to make use of this 
knowledge," (These stories were reviewed.) 



A LESSON IN BOTANY. 49 

Now followed a repetition of the whole description and 
an occasional reference to other monkeys, of which pictures 
were exhibited. Then the order was given to write out a 
composition on the orang-outang. I requested to be shown 
some of these compositions, for which reason I returned to 
this class after the lapse of an hour. I was not at all sur- 
prised to find that the work was very commendable indeed. 
A pupil of this age is always likely to express his thoughts 
well, provided he has any. 

In a conversation with the teacher afterward I gathered 
this thought, worth repeating : " As in the history of the 
nation or human race it is desirable to group the knowledge 
around individuals, in other words, make biography the first 
historical course, so in natural history a single specimen 
must suffice to group the knowledge of a whole class of ani- 
mals, plants, or minerals. Now, this orang-outang is a cen- 
tral figure. Let the pupils see more monkeys and then ob- 
serve and make inferences upon their dissimilarities with 
the orang-outang. I doubt not they will gather more valu- 
able knowledge, after having some definite knowledge with 
which they can organically connect new cognitions. Natu- 
ral history must he biographical in the common school. 
We have neither time nor means to teach more than the 
elements. A systematic scientific instruction must be left 
to the higher schools." 

I offer this to my readers as a thought worth thinking 
about. If the lesson sketched above may not seem as brill- 
iant as it was in fact, the fault is mine, owing to my inability 
to write short-hand. I am afraid many a valuable stitch 
was dropped. 

5. A Lesson in Botany. 

In one of the schools of a large city on the Middle Ehine 
I had the great pleasure of listening to a botany lesson, 
which seemed to me worthy of being sketched for the bene- 
fit of American teachers. 

Simple forms of leaves was the subject of the lesson. 



50 



D0SSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



The pupils had provided themselves with leaves, either from 
their own gardens or from the numerous parks in the city ; 
and though every pupil had brought an abundance, there 
was no litter of branches or leaves on the floor, which 
proved that good discipline was maintained. I will, in 
sketching the lesson, omit all introductory and other un- 
important things said or done — merely state the essential 
features. 

In the course of a few minutes the teacher made on the 
blackboard the following figures, which were imitated by 
the pupils : 




Figs. 63-72. 



These forms were named, the terms attached, and the 
work was accompanied by pleasant conversation, which led 
to obtaining the proper terms. Frequent references to things 
previously spoken of made this part of the lesson very inter- 
esting. Thus, for instance, the spear-head gave opportunity 
for referring to the Indians and mound-builders, of which 
to my genuine astonishment the teacher had a little but a 
correct knowledge. I must heartily commend the teacher's 
dexterity and accuracy in sketching the above forms with 
crayon. 



A LESSON IN BOTANY. 51 

When the forms (Figs. 63-72) were recognized and appro- 
priately named as well as copied, the order was given to find 
leaves among those brought to school which had similar 
shapes ; and now began a busy five minutes. Orderly and 
quietly the pupils searched for the different forms and for 
duplicates in order to exchange them for those of which 
other pupils had plenty. At the close of the five minutes 
the signal was given to have the work ready for inspection. 
The teacher and myself went through the class-room and 
saw how the pupils had arranged their leaves. 

Most pupils had heart-shaped leaves ; only one a hidney- 
shaped leaf; all had oval-shaped, both broad and narrow; 
all had lancet-shaped ones, both ending in a point or in the 
form of a heart. None had a spattle-shaped leaf, so the 
teacher exhibited his specimen. All had spear- and arrow- 
shaped leaves, but not one, not even the teacher could ex- 
hibit a rue or rhomboid or diamond-shaped leaf, and so a 
mere illustration on the board, hastily yet accurately drawn, 
had to take the place of an object in natiira. 

Now the order was given to sketch on paper, first the 
simple figure, then the leaf under it, and I was greatly 
pleased with the result of the work. It was done quickly. 
About twenty minutes sufficed for the slowest workers to 
sketch all the leaves. Care was taken in bringing out the 
characteristic feature of the leaves. I must say the leaves 
looked very natural. 

While I offer in the above figures my own copy of the 
teacher's sketches, Figs. 73-81 will be found a pupil's work 
which was given to me at my request. I hope the reader 
Avill find this of sufficient importance to see why I have 
the neat sketches accurately reproduced for the benefit of 
those who might like to imitate the lesson. They will show 
that in this lesson seeing, doing, and telling about it, went 
hand in hand. They will also bear witness to the skill the 
pupils displayed in drawing. 

No incomprehensible Latin terms were used, much to my 
delight. Reniformis means nothing to the child, while 



62 



DUSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA), 



Jcidney-shaped carries with it a meaning, appealing, as it 
does, to a familiar form in the memory. 

Now the leaves were traced to their origin. " What 
plant has leaves like this one ? " " Where did you get 
yours ? " " Was it a tree, a shruh, an herb, a grass ? " and 
so on. What struck me in this lesson was the fact that the 
teacher led the pupils in an opposite way from the one in 
which I had seen another teacher lead his class. The other 
had taken the natural leaf first, and then conventionalized it. 




This teacher gave the, so to speak, geometrical form first, and 
led the pupils to recognize that identical form in the leaves. 
Whether the one or the other may be used, both ways 
seemed to come to the same point, namely, thorough ac- 
quaintance with leaf-forms as well as skill in sketching. 
Both teachers paid due regard to spelling and language, 
taking care that the technical terms were duly impressed 
upon the memory by being written on the board and in the 
note-books, and by being pronounced in chorus and by 
single pupils. 



IDEAL TEACHING IN GEOGRAPHY. 53 

I find a great deal of sketching done in the schools of 
Germany and France, and I take this opportunity to say 
that this practice has a great educational influence, inas- 
much as it develops the sense of form and creates a memory 
for forms, not to speak of the skill it gives to the hand and 
the ability to retain knowledge. 

'' How did you manage to get them to do this sketching 
so accurately ? " was my question. The teacher's reply was 
characteristic, namely : 

" Of course, when we began, many efforts of the pupils 
were weak and their results execrable ; but we persisted, and 
never let an opportunity for sketching slip by. Nearly every 
day some sketches of forms are made, and the habit of talk- 
ing with the pencil is easily acquired. It is just as it is with 
learning to swim. Plunge in and courageously strike out. 
Don't try to learn to swim by practicing the movements of 
arms and legs on the parlor carpet. By persistent practice I 
accustom my pupils to do this work of sketching. I make it 
a duty, a pleasure, and even a second nature to them." 

The result of such practical teaching is obvious. I see 
no reason whatever why we should not be able to "go and 
do likewise." 

6. Ideal Teaching in Geography. 

It was in a preparatory school in the city of D where 

I saw ideal teaching in geography. The school was pro- 
vided with all possible means in form of maps. The matter 
of instruction could be graded just as is done in arithmetic, 
reading, etc. Geographical knowledge has for ages been 
wrested from overstocked maps. The child had to search 
painfully among a bewildering mass of data and facts for 
those which were to be learned. A systematic or methodical 
progress step by step was, if not impossible, certainly very 
difficult. Just as little as a teacher would give into the 
hands of a child a copy of Webster's " Unabridged " or of 
Shakespeare's complete works when he begins to learn the 
art of reading, just as little can it be rational in the teach- 



54 



DIJSSELDORF (RHEXISH PRUSSIA). 



ing of geography to place before liim a complete map stocked 
with a bewildering number of details. 




Fig. 82. 



This difficulty was removed in the school I refer to. Out- 
line maps were used. First river-maps like the one above 
(Fig. 82). All the water-courses and the ocean (A) were 
colored blue, while the land (B) appeared black. Below 
each map was given a profile, or longitudinal vertical sec- 
tion on certain given lines, as on the above sketch on line a. 
The pupils drew the map on paper and then inserted the 
elevations. Then followed another outline map containing 
the elevations and a few boundary -lines. By degrees more 
items of information were added, such as cities, trunk-roads, 
canals, etc. The principle of Father Pestalozzi, " One difficul- 
ty at one time," was carefully heeded, and the pupils were not 
bothered with maps such as we use in America, which blur 
the children's mental picture by their multiplicity of detail. 

Teachers are apt to labor under the misapprehension that 
a map is a good one when it contains much. This is an 
error. According to that argument a school reader would 
be a good one only when it contained the whole literature 
from Alfred's time to the present day. Outline maps, sil- 



SILHOUETTE PRACTICE MAPS. 



55 



houette maps, and such means for teaching geography ra- 
tionally, are coming into use here in Europe as well as with 
us in America. 

The school I referred to was lavishly provided with maps 
and charts. There were outline, silhouette, and complete 
maps, geographical, historical, physiological, physical, and 
astronomical maps and charts. What a wealth there was ! 
And what a joy it must be to teach in such a school ! 

7. Silhouette Practice Maps. 

The silhouette practice maps facilitate the grading of the 
matter of instruction and present opportunities for the grad- 
ual up - building 
of geographical 
knowledge as 
gained item by 
item by the child. 
Upon these maps 
(Fig. 83) may be 
entered as upon 
a blackboard the 
data to be learned, 
first by the teach- 
er, afterward by 
the pupils, and 
thus an opportu- 
nity is afforded 
to the child to 
become a self- 
active participa- 
tor in the lesson. 
When the lesson 
is completed, all 
marks or names 

Fig. 83. 

can be erased 

with a moist sponge or cloth, and the map is ready for 

a new lesson or a review. 




56 DUSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

The silhouette practice maps enable the instructor in 
history to illustrate with colored crayon changes in political 
boundaries at different periods. Students of ancient history, 
as well as general and modern history, can use these maps 
with great advantage. They do not make common wall 
maps superfluous, but supplement them.* 

8. Cause and Effect in Geography. 

The "Popular Educator," of Boston, published in 1887-'88 
some excellent contributions which offered in words and 
pictures the present status of geography teaching in Ger- 
many. Those articles leave me little to say on that subject. 
One thing I can do though, and I do it willingly, namely, to 
say that the statements made in those articles are correct. 
German teachers, not only in Saxony, where the author 
evidently gathered his information, but also in other parts 
of the empire, do teach geography as there stated ; if modi- 
fied somewhat, perhaps, essentially the same methods are 
pursued, and that with wonderful results. 

How I should like to transfer some of our American 
teachers hither, who can not imagine a geography lesson 
without verbatim memorizing of the printed text ! How I 
should like to show them rational teaching ! I am fully 
aware of the fact that we, too, have good teachers, and not 
a few either ; but it can not but please a visitor greatly to 
find every teacher, good and poor ones, following well-estab- 

* In connection with the foregoing description it may not be out of place 
to call attention to an effort of my own which may aid teachers seeking for 
better means of rational instruction than the overstocked and crowded wall 
maps in use now. I mean the silhouette practice maps, published by- 
Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

These maps, of which the sketch in the margin gives an idea, are printed 
on heavy tack cardboard and covered with a durable w<iter-proof^ deansable 
surface^ adapted to receive a succession of markings and cleansings. The 
shaded space represents the water surfaces. Oceans, lakes, and rivers ap- 
pear in blue on these maps, tlie land in black ; hence their name, silhouette 
maps. They are called practice maps because the pupil can on them practice 
with crayon geogi'aphy as he does arithmetic. 



CAUSE AND EFFECT IN GEOGRAPHY. 



57 



lished principles of method. That is the true state of affairs 

here in the city of D . Even the poor teachers are not 

without professional training. There is, however, a deep 
shadow on this bright picture. Many schools are very 
poorly equipped with means of instruction, such as maps 
and charts. 

I listened to a lesson in geography lately in a German 
school where seventy boys sat together like sardines in a 
box. The teacher had nothing better than a medium-sized 
wall map made by himself. His mode of marking elevations 
was very simple and comprehensive, one which is well worth 
imitating. With pencil or pen he shaded thus (Fig. 84) : 

Thus he was en- 
abled to represent the 
topography of a coun- 
try in a remarkably 
accurate manner, and 
this easy method en- 
abled his pupils to 
judge at a glance as 
to the height of the 
land. They saw why 
certain rivers took 
such and such a course 
and no other; why 
certain cities were 

cold, others warm; why a river was navigable or not, ac- 
cording to the abruptness of the slope; why certain rivers 
flowing from great heights had a straighter course than 
those which had little fall and meandered through the plain ; 
why certain lands are blessed with mild climates, being shel- 
tered on the north side by high and steep mountain-ranges, 
others had rough climate, being exposed to the north wind. 

The teacher was well informed and gave information in 
such a manner that it agreed with the children's mental 
stomachs. Example : The Erz-Gebirge (Ore-Mountains) were 
once full of silver mines. At the time of Martin Luther (at 




HEIGHTS. 



300 »i.. 



= 500M. 



= 1000 M. 



3000 M. 



Fig. 84. 



58 DUSSELDOEF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

the beginning of the sixteenth century) these mines drew a 
great number of people to Saxony and particularly to that 
range of mountains. When the mines ceased to yield, the 
population, not being so fluctuating as it is now, was obliged 
to seize upon other modes of occupation. The slopes of the 
mountains being well provided with various kinds of wood, 
offered material for a variety of wood-working industries. 
The slopes being steep, the mountain brooks were turbulent 
and gave an opportunity to build mills, which were first 
used for various purposes. Lately, when the textile industry 
grew, this water-power was utilized to serve that industry. 
The woods soon disappeared on the Erz Mountains; they 
were literally used up. So the people had to resort to manu- 
facturing pursuits almost entirely, agriculture being impossi- 
ble. To-day the population of the kingdom of Saxony is the 
densest of all Germany, and, aside from that in Belgium, 
the densest in all Europe. 

It was cause and effect constantly, and the attention and 
responsiveness of the boys were truly delightful. 

One other hint I received in this school. When the 
oral lesson closed, the teacher sent a boy to the blackboard 
to make a sketch of the map which the other boys were told 
to make on their slates. Then he showed that distances 
which he could cover with the span of his hand should be 
made one inch long on the slate or six inches on the black- 
board. Now he measured off certain points on the map by 
spans, and thus gave the pupils a simple scale by means of 
which they could furnish a free-hand map which was not 
out of proportion. This procedure leads the way to a more 
accurate scale and to the thorough comprehension of scales 
as such. Afterward even this measuring by spans would 
be discontinued, I was told, and mere eye-measuring would 
be substituted. It was a fine lesson, indeed a fruitful lesson ! 

9. Making History an Experience. 

I shall never forget the events of this day, and my read- 
ers, I am sure, will enjoy an account of it. Pursuant to a 



MAKING HISTORY AN EXPERIENCE. 59 

polite invitation. I accompanied the teachei's and pupils of the 

Realschule of D , on an excursion to a neighboring hill 

about four miles from the city. The school marched in com- 
panies behind a drum corps, the teachers acting as captains. 
The students all wore light grayish-blue flannel suits and a 
cap, and carried suspended from the shoulders by a strap a 
tin box called a botanizing drum. This contained a lunch, 
small hammers for breaking minerals, pincers for dissecting 
plants, cork and pins for securing beetles, and a drinking- 
vessel. A few boys carried spades and shovels, ropes and 
hammocks. 

The " regiment " afforded a beautiful sight as it marched 
from the school-yard between five and six hundred in num- 
ber. As soon as the country road was reached, the music- 
teacher began a patriotic song in marching time and the 
whole school chimed in. Oh, the exhilarating influence 
that song had ! When we came to the villa of a noted phi- 
lanthropist who had recently given a large sum of money 
to the school-fund, the regiment drew up in line and gave 
him a serenade which wound up with three rousing hurrahs. 
On we went, more singing followed, but never a break in 
the ranks nor a case of disorder. 

When we reached the foot of the hill a rest was taken at 
an inn, where milk was served and lunch was enjoyed as 
only youth can enjoy it. Then we plunged into the woods, 
each class by itself, one botanizing, one looking for miner- 
als, another studying geography, and so on. I joined the 
history class. The professor took us to the summit of the 
hill and there gave us a lesson on local history which was 
interesting to a high degree. 

" There it was," said he, " where Prince Ferdinand chased 
the Frenchmen across the Rhine. Yonder castle is the an- 
cient residence of the Dukes of Julich-Cleve-Berg, and in 
that castle it was where the beautiful Princess Jacobea of 
Baden was murdered. Far in the distance you can see the 
towers of the Cathedral of Cologne, begun some time during 
the thirteenth and finished during our nineteenth century. 



60 DtrSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

Yonder is the ancient convent built by the successor of 
Bishop Boniface ; here the ruins of the ancient Falkenburg", 
the feudal castle in which lived the owner of the land as far 
as you can see." 

Then he drew a vivid picture of the difference between 
feudalism and modern institutions. The knights and barons 
in their fortified castles were all robbers, swooping" down 
like hawks on the fords, on the highways, on the moorlands, 
on the forests, on the little settlements below them, and 
sometimes on the fortified cities, within the walls of which 
were fostered the feeble germs of self-government, civil 
rights, and civil virtues. It was a splendid lesson! The 
students crowded around him with bated breath. Pencil 
and note-book were brought into requisition, and within the 
short space of an hour so many references were made to 
points studied in the class-room that this lesson proved a 
profitable review over a month's hard study. 

A bugle-signal brought all the different classes together 
in the Wolf gully. Here the professor addressed thfe whole 
school and proposed to make this the scene of the battle of 
Thermopylae. About fifty agile, strong boys were selected 
to represent the Greeks who should defend the pass. Their 
leader was a fine lad of noble bearing, who played the role 
of Leonidas superbly. All the other boys were requested to 
advance and retreat as Persians. The fight in the pass was 
not rude, though pretty severe ; and the battle could not be 
fought through with historical faithfulness, since not one of 
the boys was willing to play the i^ole of Ephialtes, the traitor, 
so the teacher had to lead the Persians over the hill on a 
secret path into the rear of the gallant Greeks, who were 
disarmed after a most heroic resistance. The historical anec- 
dotes, such as the answer of Leonidas to Xerxes about " fight- 
ing in the shade " and others, were woven into the play. This 
was doing history as pupils do arithmetic in the class-room. 

The supercilious reader, if there be one, may smile over 
this boyish enthusiasm. Let him ! The world owes all its 
prizes to enthusiasts and nothing to callous men. 



MAKING HISTORY AN EXPERIENCE. ^1 

After the battle a welcome rest was enjoyed, then vocal 
music followed. Mendelssohn's ''Farewell to the Forest" 
and similar choruses were rendered charmingly. Now the 
treasures found during the afternoon were brought forward. 
Queer-looking specimens of petrifaction, animals, plants, 
etc., were examined, classified, and disposed of. Gymnas- 
tics, climbing of trees, and the tight rope, followed. Class 
exercises and games occupied part of the time. Certain 
daring feats were applauded and imitated. The teachers 
were always among the boys, suggesting and advising, but 
never showing their authority except when an order came 
by bugle-sound. 

When the sun went down, we all assembled at the sum- 
mit of the hill and enjoyed the grand sight of a sunset. 
Then the regiment formed in line and marched toward home, 
drum corps in front, and the whole school joined in singing 
and shouting. Another lunch at the inn, and then the 
march was taken up again. As we approached the city 
gates perfect order and silence were established, the ranks 
closed, and by degrees the companies grew smaller, as the 
boys would, singly or in small groups, leave the ranks, turn 
into side streets, and go home. 

There was never a break or a lull. Every change pro- 
posed, every new move made, was so well suited to the occa- 
sion, that the whole day resembled a kaleidoscope of beauti- 
ful ideas and scenery. I have my well-founded doubts that 
Young America could pass a day as delightfully and profit- 
ably as these healthy German lads did. 

The teachers remained together, following the invitation 
of the rector, and spent the evening at his house, partaking 
of his choicest vintage and indulging in social and profes- 
sional talk. I can think of no day in all my professional 
life that so completely engrossed my attention as this one did. 

10. The Star-Gazer. 

I had the great pleasure of accompanying a class of boys to 
the observatory in D , an institution which is under dif- 



62 



DtiSSELDORF (RHEXISH PRUSSIA). 



ferent management from that of the high-school of the city. 
Here the whole class, about twenty -four young men, re- 
ceived a lesson in finding the constellations — a lesson given 
by the astronomer, assisted by the teacher and the astrono- 
mer's amanuensis. The class was placed in a row on a 
veranda, and by means of an ingenious device all the stu- 
dents were enabled to find the stars and constellations in- 
stantly. Let ^e sketch the device. Its name is the star- 
gazer. 

It consists of a light rectangular frame, which is sus- 
pended by a cord from a cross-beam, a tree, or any other con- 
venient place. There were six 
of these gazers in use. The 
astronomer would step behind 
the line of boys, and with the 
frame lifted to the height of 
his eye would look along one 
side of the frame till he had 
fixed his gaze on a particular 
star. A student would then 
look along the other parallel 
side of the frame and soon see 
precisely the same star which 
appeared as the vanishing 
point of the two parallels. 
The student would keep his eye 




on that star, the astronomer 



Fig. 85. 



would retire, and another stu- 
dent take his place. In a few 
seconds the whole class looked at the same star; thereby a 
fixed point was gained from which entire constellations 
could be mapped out. Maps of the coiistellations were 
spread out on a table and were consulted. 

Now, the reader may perhaps think this of trifling im- 
portance, but it struck me as being worthy of mention on 
account of its simplicity. The device is also used hj Dr. 
Lander, of Williamston, South Carolina, where I saw it 



WHY SO FEW GERMANS CAN TALK ON THEIR FEET. 03 

first. I might have forgotten it had I not met with it here 
and seen its great usefuhiess for class instruction. Great 
minds think alike. I hope Dr. Lander will not take me to 
task for thus giving his invention to the iDublic. 

11. Why so few Germans can talk on their Feet. 

I attended a meeting which was held to celebrate the 
fiftieth birthday of a young ladies' school. It was a pomp- 
ous affair indeed, but one which betrayed a failing in the 
German Government officers which could not and, I believe, 
would not be tolerated in America. There was a privy 
councilor, a high Government dignitary, who could not 
speak olf-hand without breaking down before he reached 
the end of a sentence. Not one of his sentences was com- 
pleted in the style or grammar in which it was begun. 
When at the close of his miserable speech he decorated the 
rector of the school with the insignia of the order of the Red 
Eagle, several gentlemen covered their amusement with an 
acute attack of violent coughing. 

This speaker was followed by a school councilor, who 
spoke a little more fluently, but mumbling his words wo- 
fully, and the audience was heartily pleased when he re- 
tired. Then we heard the rector of a similar school and one 
of a boys' high-school speak. They conveyed the congratu- 
lations of sister institutions and dwelt at length upon educa- 
tional questions. 

Well, I mast say these speeches caused me to compare 
the admirable readiness with which American teachers, and 
in fact average American citizens, speak in public and the 
awkwardness of these German speakers. They were not 
average teachers, but noted persons, men who had achieved 
a reputation in literature and are looked up to as leaders in 
educational affairs. Think of it that such men have an 
abiding influence upon the future of the male youth of the 
empire, young men who are called upon in future to guide 
the affairs of the state ! Not one spark of that natural and 
graceful eloquence which is one of the characteristics of the 
6 



64 DUSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

public man in x\merica was noticeable; no brilliant rhetoric, 
not even a commendable elocution. 

However, comprehending everything means pardoning 
everything. The causes are apparent to the naked eye. No 
wonder our American citizens can talk fluently in public, 
having so many hundreds of opportunities offered them for 
]3ublic speaking and the practical training they get in their 
high-schools and even grammar-schools ; and then remem- 
ber that the German " citizen," or, more correctly speaking, 
the German " subject," has very few such chances and that 
oratory is not known among the studies of the high-school. 
Think also of the fact that English is a very easy language; 
it has no declensions to speak of, and its syntax is of the 
most primitive kind. In fine, you may build your sentences 
with unhewn stones ; they will, singular as it may seem, al- 
ways fit well together. In German it is necessary to hew 
every block before using it. A number of declensions and 
conjugations and a rather complicated syntax make speak- 
ing the language fluently very difficult. 

But, despite all this, there are German orators of great 
talent. When I returned to my hotel I accompanied a lady, 
who spoke without reserve of this woful want of good 
speakers in the schools, saying, " If that's a sample of elo- 
quence taught in the Boys' High-School, I don't wonder that 
the German Parliament is so tame an affair, and that so 
natural and volcanic an eloquence as that of Bismarck's 
crushes the men there as though they were mere reeds." 

12. Class-Book of Progress. 

Whatever you may think or say of the Germans, one 
thing is indisputable : they are excellent accountants. Sys- 
tematic in their habits, even in trifling things, as they are, 
their success in business is not at all astonishing. This same 
systematic, thoughtful way of doing business may be seen 
in school. But the reader must not think that these born 
accountants keep many account-books. A German teacher 
has only two, or at most three books, which he keeps regu- 



CLASS-BOOK OF PROGRESS. 65 

larly and methodically. The first is the daily register of at- 
tendance; the second a "book of progress," and sometimes a 
journal is used to enter meritorious cases, or cases of punish- 
ment. It is the second book of which I wish to speak. 

Each teacher keeps a " book of progress," which contains 
a broad, convenient column for each branch of study. After 
each lesson he enters a statement, couched in the fewest pos- 
sible expressions, of what he did, not of what he meant to 
do, during the lesson. Let me copy a few items for the bene- 
fit of my readers, to show how well the accounts are kept, 
and with what little waste of time it is done : 

Geography. Teacher: Mr. . 

Oct. 17. Mountains of southern Germany, water-sheds and rivers. 

" 18. Drainage of central Europe. 

" 19. Importance of Rhine, Elba, Oder, Vistula, and Danube for com- 
merce. 

" 20, Commercial and industrial cities in central Europe. 

" 21. States of Germany. Historical allusions. 

" 22. Review. 

" 24. Coast-line of Germany compared with that of England and other 
countries. 

" 25. Historical allusions regarding Venice, Trieste, etc. 

" 26. Political boundaries of southern Europe. 

" 27. The course of the Danube, physical and political geography. 

" 28. Review, etc., etc. 

As I said, every branch of study is thus treated, and the 
teacher does not leave the class-room before he has posted up 
this day-book. This book is of use to himself inasmuch as it 
affords an easy reference to the ground gone over, and a 
most convenient means of control on the part of the super- 
intendent. But the curse of our American schools, the daily 
marking of pupils, the keeping of a class record, the weekly, 
monthly term, and annual reports, these terrible — but no, 
there is no occasion to be bitter. Let me simply repeat that, 
aside from the daily register of attendance and the above- 
mentioned book of progress, no official accounts are kept. 



QQ DUSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

Despite the absence of daily marking, I find the many pupils 
of a class in the graded schools more on a level than I ever 
found them in America. I can in no other way account for 
this than by the thorough professional training of the teach- 
ers, which is a conditio sine qua non of holding a position. 
Do not blame me for mentioning this so often. It can not 
be said too often, can not be emphasized too strongly. 

13. Promote the Teachers with their Classes. 

Many of my readers will have observed how detrimental 
it is to the progress of children that they have to change 
teachers often. Their mental growth is stunted, though 
every one of their teachers may be a good one. Before the 
new teacher has acquainted himself with the peculiarities of 
each pupil much valuable time is lost ; many vital errors are 
committed, though unintentionally ; many points of hostile 
contact are established, before he is aware of it. Even one 
new teacher for every j'-ear is too frequent a change, as was 
found by these thoughtful Germans. They hit upon a rem- 
edy which, I am glad to say, is in vogue also in America in a 
few places. It is this : 

In the primary grades the teacher is promoted with his 
class. He steps into the next higher class with all the little 
ones prepared for promotion. When the second year is over, 
he takes that class into the third year's work, and in some 
cities even further up, into the fourth. After that he pro- 
motes his class into the intermediate school and steps down 
again to the new chart class which has just entered school. 
Here he begins another cycle of three or four years. In other 
words, he has the same pupils three or four years instead of 
one year. 

The same order of procedure is followed in the next four 
years, or intermediate school. Here the teacher has his pu- 
pils for three years. In this department there is a deviation 
from the rule, namely, the principal is excluded from this 
rotary movement. He remains in charge of the highest 
grade always. I believe this is done to round off and polish 



PROMOTE THE TEACHERS WITH THEIR CLASSES. G7 

the x)upils' knowledge before they finish the course of study. 
It seems hardly necessary to enlarge upon the advantages 
connected with this practice. They are obvious to any ob- 
servant witness, although I admit there are disadvantages 
connected with it, also. On an impartial scale, however, 
the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages. I am con- 
fident of that. 

Note. — Conncclmi of Teacher and Pupils. — In the " Journal of Educa- 
tion," of April 26th, Dr. L. R. Klemra points out the loss to children from 
frequent change of teachers, and considers how the change may be avoid- 
ed. This very important question has not, I think, received the attention 
it deserves. Speaking of the only schools in which I have worked — viz., 
the Enghsh — I have no doubt that the progress of the cleverer boys is 
checked by the frequent and sometimes violent changes in methods of 
study as the pupil passes from teacher to teacher. An able or very hard- 
working boy will "get his remove" three times in the year; so no "form- 
master " has the teaching of him for more than twelve or thirteen weeks. 
Does it not seem obvious that teacher and pupil are parted just when they 
are beginning to understand one another ? 

The Jesuits have, I believe, always adopted the plan recommended by 
Dr. Klemm. With them the personal influence of the teacher is consid- 
ered of the highest importance, and the teacher has to make a careful 
study of the powers, the tastes, and the habits of each pupil. So teacher 
and pupil must keep together. The same method is common in the great 
Scotch schools, though without the same motive. This method, with some 
advantages, must have many drawbacks. In all schools there are, most 
likely, some weak masters. With us the harm done by this weakness is 
spread over a large area, but it would be the intellectual and perhaps the 
moral ruin of a boy to be handed over to such a teacher for the whole of 
his school life. And how can the same boys be taught together year after 
year, while the rate of progress of some of theui is so much greater than 
that of others ? 

I am very glad Dr. Klemm has started the subject for discussion. 

R. H. Quick. 

Redhill, Surrey, England. 



68 DUSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



14. A School of Design. 

Many mouths I spent in Germany, visiting schools al- 
most exclusively. I passed through the fairest portions of 
the empire, through the Free Cities, Westphalia, Ehenish 
Prussia, Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenhurg, etc. ; even crossed 
the boundary into Holland and France, and studiously 
avoided visiting industrial schools or any other special 
schools. My first object was to see what could be seen in 
the elementary schools. Hundreds of schools, more than five 
hundred class-rooms and lessons I saw, many libraries, col- 
lections, school museums, and wherever I found a pearl I 
picked it up, deliberately appropriating it for the benefit of 
my American colleagues. I addressed German teachers' 
meetings, "culture clubs," and other societies, wrote down 
in leisure hours (sitting in hotel-lobbies, depots, or in my 
easy-chair of a furnished room) on the spur of the moment 
what I had seen during the day worth noting down. I 
wrote, sketched, drew, and copied — and now I am weary. 

Though the work is very interesting and exciting, very 
absorbing, indeed, a holiday occupation such as my wildest 
dreams of happiness could not have pictured, I begin to be- 
lieve in Goethe's words, " Nichts ist schwerer zu ertragen als 
eine Reihe von schoenen Tagen " (nothing is more difficult 
to endure than a number of fine days). Traveling from one 
city to another, following suggestions to this and that point 
in quest of improved teaching, and nowhere enjoying the 
rest which home alone can offer, I begin to feel as though I 
deserved a vacation. This I seek in visiting special schools, 
and, being aware of the commotion in our country caused 
by the attempt at ingrafting manual training upon the com- 
mon school, I begin with industrial schools. 

The first one of these schools at my disposal, and. as I am 
told, one of the best in the empire, is a school of industrial 
art (really called art - industry school, " Kunst - Gewerbe- 

Schule ") at D . These institutions are a result of the fact 

that the Germans had recognized the superiority of other 



A SCHOOL OF DESIGN. 69 

nations in the domain of industrial art. In Philadelphia 
(1876) they found themselves badly beaten by the French, 
by the Americans, and partly also by the Italians and Aus- 
trians. Heroically they set to work to win back the same 
position in industrial art which Germany had during the 
middle ages. With the revival in southern Germany of 
models of the middle ages, a burning desire was felt not to 
allow the trades to retrograde, but to give them a new im- 
petus. This was found in better models and in more thor- 
ough instruction in the industrial arts. 

Thus all the industrial occupations were placed on a 
higher level than heretofore. It was found that, with the 
enormous extension of machine labor, manual labor was 
liberated to better efforts and higher, nobler aims. The 
Government saw that the hands thus liberated by machine- 
power must be employed, and it did not hesitate a moment 
in founding schools which directed much of this idle power 
and talent into new channels. In all industrial centers of 
the empire schools of industrial art sprung up. They are 
found in Berlin, Cologne, Nuremberg, Diisseldorf, and many 
other places, chiefly in South Germany, Saxony, and Ehen- 
ish Prussia. These schools are maintained by communal 
(i. e., local district) and state funds. 

While in the common schools manual occupation is in- 
troduced to offer the pupils a curriculum in which mental 
exertion is counterpoised by manual exertion, these special 
schools in Germany have a different object — they are to per- 
fect the hoys in the trades after having gone through the 
common school^ and to give them that education which fits 
them to play leading roles in industrial pursuits. The com- 
pletion of a common-school education is a condition of admis- 
sion. No pupil is admitted before he has completed his four- 
teenth year of age, and not even then unless he has entered 
a workshop as an apprentice or joined an industrial artist in 
his studio. In other words, he must be a bona fide artisan. 
Academic instruction is only offered in geometry because 
that branch is not in the course of the common school. 



70 DiJSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

The Dilsselclorf Industrial Art School is divided into two 
distinct departments — the preparatory and the professional. 
No pupil can enter the professional department who has not 
gone through a course in the preparatory department, though 
special talent will enable him to absolve it in a few months. 
He must submit to the rigid course which requires of him to 
pass through all the different preparatory exercises so that 
he may with wide-open eyes discover his calling and select 
his trade. In his preparatory class each student draws some- 
thing of everything— designs for house-building and furni- 
ture, designs for gun-, lock-, and tool-smiths and other metal- 
workers, designs for machine-building and devices, for mod- 
eling in clay and wood-carving, for embossing and chasing, 
for decorative art and engraving, for glass and china paint- 
ing, and Heaven knows what not. 

There is a variety in this preparatory department which 
at first puzzles many a pupil ; but soon he finds his favorite 
occupation if he had not prev^iously developed a special lik- 
ing. Toward the end of a year a pupil of this department 
usually has developed a very decided leaning in one direc- 
tion, and the professors foster that by giving the pupil 
work to do that will help him on in his chosen specialty. 
The main object of this preparatory department is that 
the student test his strength in all directions and with 
the aid of the teachers' advice and mature judgment find 
his calling. It is a process not of natural but of deliberate 
selection. 

Now the student is ready to enter the professional de- 
partment. Sometimes a student is found to develop such a 
variety of talents that the professors are obliged to repress 
and curb him lest he should fritter away his strength in too 
many directions. I saw many exquisite achievements in the 
preparatory class ; but one thing struck me as highly recom- 
mendable — there was no copying done. Copies were placed 
before the pupil ; but they had to be reproduced on a larger 
or smaller scale. If a student is found copying, he is sum- 
marily dismissed. Let me say also that a boy who is absent 



A SCHOOL OF DESIGN, 71 

without cause is dismissed without appeal. " We don't want 
any lazy-bones here," said the rector. 

Most of the pupils of the preparatory department are ap- 
prentices who j)ly their trade after school houi^s ; but when 
they enter the professional department they give up their 
work in the shop for three years, at least do not work in 
them steadily. Only models and designs drawn and calcu- 
lated in school may be worked out in the home shops and 
brought to school. The school itself has no shops, except 
studios for wood-carving, modeling in clay and plaster, re- 
pousse work, etching, engraving, chasing, and decorative 
painting. No manual labor in joining and carpentering, 
etc., is done in this school, but articles are made from mod- 
els in natura, all done at home by the students and pro- 
fessors after designs furnished by the school. These models 
for joiner- work fill an entire room, and are very costly arti- 
cles. 

The professional department is divided into as many 
classes as there are trades which can be benefited by designs, 
the school being in reality a "school of design." I will 
enumerate the classes : 

Class I. Furniture-building (joiner and carpenter work). 
II. Architecture. 

III. Metal-work (locksmith, armorer, and toolsmith). 

IV. Decorative painting (fresco-painting and textile 

industry. 
V. Figural drawing and painting. 
VI. Ornamental modeling in clay and wax, 
VII. Figural modeling. 

VIII. Ornamental and figural wood-carving. 
IX. Etching, embossing, and raising in metal. 
X. Engraving and chasing (jeweler work). 
And several classes of minor importance, chiefly subdivis- 
ions. Classes I, II, III embrace instruction in drawing and 
coloring designs which will further the industrial pursuits 
of carpenters, joiners, architects, armorers, gun- and lock- 
smiths, etc. New designs are invented under guidance. 



72 DUSSELDORF (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

Models in " life-size " or in miniature are placed before the 
pupils. Class IV offei's instruction in designing, drawing, 
and painting of decorations on the plane (surface decora- 
tion). Water-colors ai*e used. This class is also frequented 
by landscape gardeners. Instruction in Class V is made 
v^ery interesting. Attendance is obligatory for all the stu- 
dents, because the human figure is represented more or less 
in the work of all trades. 

Instruction in Classes VI and VII is perhaps more highly 
developed here in Diisseldorf than elsewhere. Instruction 
in Class VIII has special reference to joiner's work, while that 
of Classes IX and X aims at imitating those costly and valu- 
able drinking-vessels made during the middle ages, the man- 
ufacture of which was for a long time almost classed among 
the lost arts. No matter what class a student has chosen, he 
is obliged to take part in exercises in perspective dra\Wng, 
in drawing from casts, and from the nude model. Every 
student is obliged to listen to a course in anatomy. Par- 
ticularly talented students are permitted to join sevei'al 
classes. 

The daily sessions are from eight to twelve, from two till 
six, and from seven till nine — total, ten hours. Only Sun- 
day afternoon and evening are free. Tuition fees per an- 
num are ten dollars in the preparatory class, fifteen dollars 
in the professional department, and five doUaj'S extra for 
the evening lectures. The building, which was erected spe- 
cially for the purpose, contains a very large museum of in- 
dustrial arts, which is open to the students. In America we 
should consider this school an art-school, but not so here. 
An academy of fine arts is a totally different thing. While 
in this industrial art-school everything done is done with 
reference to industrial pursuits, the art-school confines itself 
to painting in oil and water-color and to sculpture. 

I met a young man from Chicago in the Industrial 
School who was studying in the class of decorative painting 
and in the modeling class. He confided to me that he had 
gone through a similar school in America and then worked 



PROPER SCHOOL FURNITURE. 73 

as fresco-painter. When he had earned a thousand dollars 
he had come to Germany and entered this school, confident 
that he could go through the entire course in half a year. 
" Well," said he, " I am at the beginning of my fourth half 
year now, and I am not nearly through yet. What a won- 
derland this Germany is ! " he added, with a sigh. 

I spent several hours in rummaging through the accumu- 
lated work of the students after having gone through all the 
classes, and was greatly pleased with what was accomplished. 
The rector, a young man of great force, told me that the se- 
cret of success of this school lay in the fact that the trustees 
engaged as professors in this institution only men who had 
proved incontestahly that they were masters in their respect- 
ive departments. " It is not a question of home talent with 
us, but of merit alone ! " 



CHAPTER IV. 

elberfeld-barmen (rhenish prussia). 

1. Proper School Furniture. 

In the city of Elberfeld I came across another proof of 
the careful consideration for the pupils on the part of the 
authorities such as is not often found in our country. I 
found a tin scale (see cut on next page) tacked to the 
door-post with its lower end just one metre above the floor. 
The pupils are measured frequently and rearranged on the 
seats with reference to their sizes. Children who measured 
110 centimetres are placed on benches numbered VIII. If 
they measure 117 centimetres, they are placed on a bench a 
size larger, namely. No. VII, and so upward. 

If this is done three or four times a year, each child will 
have a convenient seat, not too low and not too high. The 
benches in the schools of that city are all made by one firm, 



74 



ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



and furnished in accordance with the scale. Some people 
may consider this pedantic; but the scale being furnished 
gratis and the arrangement taking little 
time, there can be no objection to it. 
I remember with ever-vivid sensation 
the cramps in my legs and the pain 
in my back when I as a small boy had 
to sit on a high bench, my feet dangling 
and my body swaying, because I could 
find no convenient rest for the feet or 
back. 

The men in the Board of Education 
who loftily dismiss any such proposition 
of the superintendent as changing the 
desk for hygienic purposes, ought to be 
condemned to pass a day on such a 
bench to get a taste of the inconven- 
ience caused by improper furniture. 
But, then, the schools of some Ameri- 
can cities are " governed " by the people 
for the benefit of political parties, and 
it is simply ridiculous to expect mem- 
bers of political school committees to 
consider hygienic principles so long as 
the question, "Which of the different 
manufacturers of desks uses most of 
my wares ? " is uppermost in their minds. 
It is perhaps the very man who "sat 
down " on a motion of the superintend- 
ent to purchase more suitable desks 
who will, when he gets home, claim 
the most convenient arm-chair in the 
house, lean back in it, and tell his wife 
of the laborious duties of a school 
committee-man, and expatiate upon his saintly conduct as 
an immaculate servant of the people. O tempora ! O 
mores ! 



1 


CHILD'S 

SIZE. 
CENTIM. 


SIZE OF 

BENCH. 

NO. 

I. a 




180 






170 


= 




160 
150 


" 


I. 




11. 




m 

130 
120 
110 


s 


= 


TIL 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VIT. 


VIIT. 




100 








1 



Fig. 86. 



THE FIRST REFORMED PARISH SCHOOL. 75 



2. The First Eeformed Parish School. 

A historical spot of no mean importance is the school I 
visited in Elberfeld. During the time of the great Church 
Reformation this school was a parish school, and when the 
entire parish severed its connection with the Roman Church 
and joined the Protestants, this school, being property of 
the parish, changed its character and name also. Through 
all the vicissitudes of life during more than three hundred 
and fifty years the school has remained unchanged save in 
this, that it is now a city or communal school; but the city 
authorities are so respectful to the historical reputation of 
this school that they reserve for it the well-earned distinc- 
tion of being called the First Reformed Parish School, while 
all other city schools are called people's or communal 
schools. 

In front of the building, separated from it by a roadway, 
is an ancient church-yard in which rest the remains of the 
first Protestants, the first followers of Dr. Martin Luther in 
this place. From the windows of the front rooms may be 
seen the tower of the first Lutheran church in the valley, 
the first church in which the purified faith was preached. 
Though not a stone's-throw off stands a palatial new Catholic 
school, a proof of the fact that we live in a diflPerent century, 
this ancient parochial school has kept up its reputation as 
the best school in town; indeed, a day spent in different 
rooms of this quaint building convinced me of the powerful 
influence of historical reminiscences. 

I heard a lesson in mathematical geography in the seventh 
grade (seventh from below), one in language in the sixth, in 
singing in the seventh, in composition in the sixth, in or- 
thography in the fourth, in reading in the lowest grade, and 
must pronounce the teaching far superior to that of many 
other schools. This first reformed school seems to be on the 
road to reform yet. It protests energetically against all 
transmitted errors in teaching. The most advanced methods 
are applied. Thus, for instance, it does not teach to spell 



76 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

(to split words) for the sake of spelling, as is so frequently 
done in our schools, but teaches orthography (correct writ- 
ing) chiefly through the sense of sight. This is done in a 
way which would give an orthodox schoolmaster (or school- 
mistress, for that matter) the horrors or make his flesh creep. 
Let me state how it is done. 

The children had read a piece containing a number of 
difficult words. The teacher ordered these words to be 
marked, picked out, and written on the board. They were 
carefully looked at and the difficulties they contained were 
pointed out. Then the teacher spelled (split) each word in 
succession. After that a mark was made where the word 
was divided or broken at the end of a line. Now they were 
used in new sentences, and some pupils dispatched to the 
board to write these short sentences. After this the teacher 
proceeded to erase the words of the lesson, and had them in- 
serted again by other pupils. 

After all this was done the entire work on the board was 
erased and the sentences were dicta,ted. While the pupils 
wrote them, the teacher passed through the aisles and cor- 
rected instantly what errors were met by her sharj), search- 
ing eyes. After the work was done on the slates, the pupils 
were told to erase certain words (the new difficult words of 
the lesson) and to insert them again after spelling them 
aloud. Thus an hour was profitably spent in seeing, divid- 
ing, writing, erasing, and rewriting words, and the occupa- 
tion this gave to the children was anything but tedious. 
Words thus learned in proper surroundings are reviewed 
next day by merely writing them in columns and using them 
in sentences orally only. 

New words are also taken from the matter in geography, 
arithmetic, drawing, etc., not only from the reading matter. 
Words which the pupils should learn, though they are not 
contained in the reading matter, are purposely thrown at 
their feet, so that they must either stumble over them or 
pick them up. This is not done by presenting the pupils 
with strings of words promiscuously selected, but with their 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL FOR DULLARDS. 77 

meaning in sentences, for instance, in connection with ob- 
ject-lessons, so that they appear as garments of ideas. They 
are thus organically connected with knowledge previously 
gained. 

Or, to generalize, a word is not given to find a definition 
for it, but the thought and the definition are presented and a 
fitting word is found afterward. First, the object, the phe- 
nomenon, the quality, or whatever it may be, then the 
thought or idea is established, and for that a suitable word, 
a symbol, as it were, is formed. That word is then incor- 
porated in the child's vocabulary and laid at anchor by see- 
ing it and by writing it correctly. Of course, some words 
are learned otherwise, but I feel disinclined to state excep- 
tions. What I am after is the rule. 

This may seem pale theory to some teachers ; but I assure 
them it takes less time to teach orthography in this way than 
to dictate incomprehensible words for the purpose of- raising 
a plentiful crop of mistakes. Children loathe incomprehen- 
sible words. Spelling in the old-fashioned school was a 
separate study, and as such no doubt it was a beauty and a 
joy forever (?). To-day orthogi'aphy is no separate study, 
but appears as component part of practice in written lan- 
guage. 

3. A Separate School for Dullards. 

A. Object and Organization. — In such industrial cen- 
ters as Elberfeld, Barmen, Cologne, Gladbach, Crefeld, Essen, 
Diisseldorf, Solingen, Duisburg, Remscheid, and others in 
Rhenish • Prussia, the percentage of idiots, deaf-mutes, and 
other kinds of Nature's step-children, is naturally greater 
than at places of similar importance in America, where the 
people do not live so close together. The number of these 
unfortunates is always smaller where better hygienic condi- 
tions admit of healthier life, and beautiful surroundings and 
the influence of art generate a more moral atmosphere ; but 
it is not of the idiotic children, to wit, those who prove un- 
able to be educated, of whom I will speak. The state and 



78 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

community take care of them in well-regulated institutions 
as generously as is clone in iimerica. 

In every graded system of city schools there is a residue 
of weak-minded children who can not be counted among 
those unable to learn. In America such children are often 
repulsed and got rid of by fair or foul means, a thing that 
can not be done here, where a very severe law prescribes 
obligatory attendance. The school authorities here deserve 
the highest praise for not excluding these pariahs, but with 
infinite care bringing them within the pale^oTschool influ- 
ence. 

Let me have it distinctly understood that I do not mean 
imbecile children, pronounced idiots, but intellectually weak 
ones, children who, though in possession of the organic five 
senses, are poorly endowed in perception, memory, reason, 
etc., and are therefore unfit to stay among normally en- 
dowed -children, partly because they deserve a specially slow 
procedure on the part of the teacher, and are therefore a 
hindrance to the class ; partly also because they are the 
laughing-stock of their brighter schoolmates, and in conse- 
quence of being ill treated lose the last spark of self-respect 
and ambition. 

Here in the district of Diisseldorf, which has more big 
cities and industrial centers than any other Prussian pro- 
vincial district, the idea has taken root that these mentally 
weak children ought to be taught separately, lest in the 
course of time they might become idiots, but chiefly for the 
purpose of freeing the common school of a dead weight 
which impedes its progress. 

It was not easy to convince the school committee of the 
necessity of such a school, but a few of the superintendents 
took the matter in hand and urged its establishment with all 
available arguments. Miinchen-Gladbach and Elberfeld are 
the first cities in which such separate or special schools were 
established. Other-cities, such as Cologne, Crefeld, Diissel- 
dorf, followed suit, and in several others the establishment 
is contemplated, notably also in Basle, Switzerland. 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL FOR DULLARDS. 79 

Many prejudices of parents had to be overcome. When, 
some ten or twelve years ago, I urged a superintendent in 
Ohio to establish such a school, he answered me : " I have a 
good mind to single out the morally unsound and danger- 
ous elements and put them into an ungraded school by 
themselves ; but I hesitate to single out the dullards." I 
asked why. Said he, looking wise : '' A father or mother is 
more easily persuaded that his or her boy is mischievous, 
wicked, and even vicious, than that he is too stupid to make 
the progress that his schoolmates make. Moral weakness 
may be attributed to street influence and bad example of 
others, but the accusation of mental weakness touches the 
parent to the quick." Similar difficulties had to be over- 
come here. 

One of the rules under which this special school here in 
Elberfeld operates is that a child can only be admitted after 
it has attended a public school for two years, and during that 
time has given ample evidence of its inability to keep up with 
other children. These are the children that cause anxiety in 
family and school. They can not be promoted with their 
schoolmates, but lose courage and finally settle back into a 
state of hopeless indifference unless placed in the care of 
a teacher who is particularly well adapted to such work. 
These children are slow in perception, slower still in reason- 
ing, wofully weak in memory; and their imagination, hav- 
ing been left without food in form of percepts and con- 
cepts, is stunted. They can not apply thoughts, and will 
remain helpless creatures unless special instruction is given 
them, which will, coupled with infinite patience, awaken 
thought, nourish the power of abstraction, train the power 
of application, and generally treat them as objects of tender 
care. 

Some nine yeai's ago a beginning was made here in El- 
berfeld with twenty-five pupils. A teacher who was re- 
markably well adapted for this kind of work was sent to 
special schools for idiots to learn the methods applied there. 
All desirable means of instruction were placed at his dis- 



80 ELBERFELD- BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

posal, and the authorities with rare and commendable wis- 
dom gave him free elbow-room — that is, did not hedge him 
in with a prescribed course of study. No object was fixed 
in view except to do the best that could be done under the 
circumstances. The selection of this teacher was a very 
happy one. 

The trial of one year established the indisputable fact 
that these children were not hopeless cases, but that they 
could be taught and that they could learn. Some wealthy 
parents who had children with weak intellects observed the 
results of this effort and sent their backward children to this 
school. That removed the reputation of its being a school 
for outcasts. Poor, prejudiced people thought, "If Mr. 
Privy Councilor, and Mr. General Agent, and Mr. Banker, 
and such people, send their children to this school, it can't 
be a school for outcasts, and we will send ours " ; and they 
did. Soon a second class was started, and the school graded 
in prim.ary and intermediate class. Still better work could 
now be done and was done. At the beginning of the fourth 
or fifth year the opening of a third class was found neces- 
sary, and ever since the school has exercised a beneficial in- 
fluence directly within its walls, and indirectly by freeing 
the other schools of impediments. 

At present (November, 1887) this special school has very 
commodious quarters, and works according to a curriculum 
which has been developed slowly as circumstances would 
permit — a curriculum which is subject to changes as the na- 
ture of the pupils may dictate. There is no rigid require- 
ment, no cast-iron rule. Course and method are as elastic 
and flexible as the individuality of the pupils make it neces- 
sary. Some pupils stay beyond the fourteenth year of age. 
Teachers and inspector keep an eye on those who have com- 
pleted the course, and help them to enter life to carve out a 
future. The attendance at present is about ninety pupils in 
three rooms. If we consider that Elberfeld has one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand inhabitants, the number of ninety 
pupils in this special school is not exorbitant. In the next 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL FOR DULLARDS. 81 

sections I shall describe the results and the methods ob- 
served. 

B. Results. — It is obvious that this school must in no 
way be fettered down with rigid rules and regulations, or 
with a course of study prescribed in schools for normally 
endowed children. Though it has in due course of time 
been able to set down in writing what is possible and attain- 
able, its only true guide is — try to attain what is within reach 
of the individual pupil. The teachers are obliged to change 
the course and the method frequently so as to adapt them to 
each individual pupil. If we consider that this school has 
hardly any models to go by except institutions for idiots, 
deaf-mutes, etc., and that this is literally a pioneer school, it 
is easily seen how great must be the difficulties that beset the 
path of its teachers. 

I have, in all my wanderings through schools in America 
and Europe (and this is my twenty-fifth year of experience 
in the school-rooms), not found another set of teachers who 
can compare with these three in inquisitiveness and eager- 
ness to gain information useful to them in their Sisyphus 
work. One of them told me that he had been sent to a school 
for deaf-mutes to study methods, and had noticed that, bar- 
ring the one defect, the children there were normally en- 
dowed and had that inspiring desire to learn which flows 
from ambition. "But look at these young ones," said he; 
" there is no ambition. All we can awaken at first is a kind 
of dull or blunt interest in bright pictures. All abstraction 
is impossible. Many can not conceive of such numbers as 
3, 5, 7, and it takes the patience of ten Jobs to ' generate ' 
such concepts. " 

I find in use here some of Froebel's occupations ; not all, 
but the simplest ones, and even these are modified. I find 
adapted here methods used in blind asylums, schools for 
deaf-mutes, and schools for idiots. Suggestions are taken 
from every source, and readily acknowledged. Of course, 
the school is not considered a model school of its kind, but I 
am confident it will be in time to come. Just as carefully 



82 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

as the mind is trained the other powers of the soul are at- 
tended to. The emotions, though sluggish, are stimulated; 
volition, in most cases entirely wanting, is awakened, not 
crushed ; order and discipline are maintained, and thus the 
foundation is laid for a further development of the moral 
sense. The pupils' good qualities are lovingly nursed ; 
their bad tendencies are repressed, not violently, yet firmly 
and consistently. 

Pupils who have skill in manual occupations are special- 
ly trained in them, so that when they leave school at the age 
of fourteen years they may be apprenticed to some trades- 
man; and charitably the school keeps its hand over them 
for many a year to come until the children are either well 
enough advanced to carve out their own future or prove in- 
capable of developing further what the school had awakened 
in them. In the latter cases the State is called upon to take 
the care, and it rarely hesitates. I have not the least doubt 
that some day a genius whose mental constitution differs 
vitally from that of normally endowed children will be 
found to deserve special treatment in such a special school 
and find it here. History tells of some such cases who 
became famous, not on account of their school education, 
but despite of it. They might have had proper training in 
such a special school for dullards. Nature is a very queer 
woman. Who knows but that some of these children may 
bloom out into full-fledged geniuses who will leave others 
behind them, astonishing the world with ideas not commonly 
conceived by the " normally endowed " ? According to the 
established idea, a genius is an abnormally endowed person. 

Up to May 1, 1885, thirty pupils were dismissed from this 
school and sent into the world. May I be permitted to give 
a few highly interesting statistical data ? 

I. Number of children who passed the examination for 
dismissal at fourteen years of age : 

Upper Class. — Sixteen boys, six girls. 

Lower Class. — Four boys, four girls. 

Three were sent away or transferred who proved idiotic ; 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL FOR DULLARDS. 83 

five were sent back who proved well enough endowed to get 
along in the common school ; one moved away from town ; 
one died. Total, forty. 

II. Duration of attendance : 

Two of these forty children attended this special school 
one year; three children one and a half years; one child 
two years ; five children two and a half years ; two children 
three years ; one child three and a half years ; five children 
four years ; three children four and a half years ; six chil- 
dren five years ; two children five and a half years. 

III. Eesults of the school : 

Of the thirty who passed the examination twenty-three 
could read well with proper emphasis, seven only mechan- 
ically. 

In writing seven could only copy ; ten could write from 
memory and dictation ; and thirteen could write short com- 
positions, letters, bills, etc. 

In arithmetic six children could only reckon within the 
circle of 1 to 20, three within 1 to 100, two within 1 to 200, 
seven within 1 to 1,000. Three worked with unlimited num- 
bers, and eight succeeded in reckoning with denominate 
numbers readily and quickly. Only one child learned to 
work readily vdth fractions. The reader will please notice 
that these are results up to May, 1885. To-day the upper 
class works with fractions, both with common and decimal 
fractions, and does it well. 

In religion instruction is given regularly, but only twen- 
ty-two of the above-mentioned thirty were admitted to the 
annual confirmation, three to the first communion, so that 
of five it must be said that they could not pass the examina- 
tion in church and were set back. 

IV. What became of the thirty children ? The following 
carefully gathered facts will answer the question: 

3 locksmiths, 1 clerk in a store, 

1 house-painter, 1 messenger, 

1 mason, 1 spool-worker, 

1 tinsmith, 1 factory-hand (boy). 



84 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

1 baker, 4 factory-hands (girls), 

1 tailoi', 6 servant-gills, 

1 ribbon-weaver, 3 bodily weak, not working, 

1 bookbinder, 3 still undecided. 

In other words, twenty-four of the thirty have become 
useful members of society and possibly three more will be, 
while three are ill. This certainly is an admirable showing. 
C. The Methods pursued.— The reader, I believe, will un- 
derstand why I bestow much attention to this special school. 
It is something new; perhaps not new in theory, but cer- 
tainly new in practice. A body of men and women who are 
looking for modern ideas and advanced methods in teaching 
must take cognizance of a trial like this, and hear a truthful 
account of the working of a school which to my mind is 
destined to cause a revolution in the organization of the en- 
tire common-school system in no far-distant time. Follow 
me, candid reader, and dismiss all prejudice. Let us enter 
this school for dullards. Rest assured, you will pick up a 
suggestion here and there which may be of value to you. 

We enter the lowest grade. The children here are be- 
tween eight and ten years of age, but as undeveloped as 
other children at four. They attended the common school 
two years, were found unable to learn by means of the 
methods pursued there, and are treated here with special care. 
A great number of preparatory exercises are needed which 
are deemed unnecessary in other schools. There they sit at 
a Kindergarten- table, nearly all bearing the unmistakable 
stamp of stupidity on their faces. Some are neatly di^essed, 
being evidently children of wealthy parents ; some are 
clothed raggedly. But the teachers insist upon cleanliness 
scrupulously. Some have fine features and skulls, but slob- 
bering mouths; others are tall and well built, but have small 
and abnormal skulls ; still others have beautifully chiseled 
features, but a dull stare in their eyes. 

They are learning numbers. Before them lies a heap of 
pegs of ebony and boxwood about an inch long and half an 
inch thick. Teacher. " See what I do." (Taking three pegs 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL FOR DULLARDS. 



85 



in his hand and placing them in the groove of a frame such 
as is shown in the cut.) " Do as I do." Pupils take three, 
one takes four, another two, without seeing their error. 



/ pa-Ul 



Fig. 



This exercise is continued. Its object is to take and set up 
as many as are shown. After the number has been recog- 
nized, the fingers are used in counting. Other objects are 
used for the same purpose. One little boy thought that 
three meant three pegs always. He could not see instantly 
that the number three might be applied to other objects. 
When a number has been recognized, counting it one at a 
time, of course, it is analyzed — that is, its component parts 
are found. 

Teacher and pupils converse without restraint. Some of 
the pupils have to be urged to action, being apt to sit in dull 
contemplation of distant objects. While the teacher is thus 
busy with the beginners, the other division is working with 
numbers on their slates. These pupils work aloud, heedless 
of the disturbance they are causing — in fact, not knowing 
that they are noisy. The teacher tells us that it is useless to 
prohibit whispering and talking, simply because the pupils 
would forget the order, and it does not disturb him in the 
least, being occupied with the little ones in the farthest 
corner of the spacious room. 



86 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

When the lesson is concluded the teacher shows us the 
means of exemplification he has in form of beans, peas, but- 
tons, sticks, etc. A large cupboard is full of the most in- 
genious devices, nearly all well known to teachei's who be- 
lieve in approaching the mind through the avenues of the 
senses. This being the hour for arithmetic, we repair to the 
middle grade, where the Eussian numeral frame is used, and 
here we find the children pondering over such questions as : 
" How many times is 9 contained in 28 ? " " Is 28 a table 
number?" (That means, Is 28 one of the numbers in the 
multiplication-table of 9?) "No." ''What is the nearest 
below ? " Child, beginning with 9, says, " 9, 18, 27," and, ah 
yes, " 9 is found three times in 28." " Is there nothing left 
if you take 9 from 28 three times ? " Again a moment's hard 
thought and " No " is the answer. Again the whole work 
has to be repeated, till finally the complete answer comes, 
" 9 is contained in 28 three times and 1 over. " A look of 
joy brightens the child's face, and from the fairly beaming 
countenance of the teacher he reads his reward and falls 
back, to let some other child try his luck. 

" How many times is 7 in 19 ? " A dead halt. " Nearly 
three times," comes the answer at last. " How many are 
wanting?" " Only two." " Then it isn't three times. How 
many times is it ? " Again the child contracts its brow and 
studies. At last it says with the air of conviction, " Three 
times " ; and again with Job-like patience the teacher goes 
over the same ground till the child gets the answer correctly. 
There is no prompting done by the teacher. All he does is 
to assist the child in thinking, and approach the mind 
through the avenues of the senses. 

It was in this grade where I detected an error I had fre- 
quently heard in German schools. The teachers of this 
special school being almost faultless methodicians, I ventoi'e 
to mention the error, hoping that it will not be interpreted 
as hypercritical on my part. I heard the teacher ask, " Tell 
the ninth part of forty-eight." Answer, " Five and three 
over. " The ninth part could only have been five and one 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL FOR DULLARDS. 87 

third, for such parts are equal parts. But, fractional expres 
sions being out of the question in this school, he ought to 
have asked, " How many times is nine contained in forty- 
eight ? " However, this is trifling, and I almost blush for 
having mentioned it. In all the arithmetical exercises in 
the two lower grades I find that no abstract example is of- 
fered and solved. The pupils see the example first in objects 
as given by the teachers in balls, pegs, sticks, etc., then do 
it, handling the objects — that is, solving it in reality, and, 
lastly, tell about it. Every lesson in this school is a lan- 
guage-lesson. 

The singing which followed was rather discordant and 
inharmonious ; but it proved that the school attempts to 
awaken every latent talent in these children. 

Then followed a lesson in biblical history. In the lowest 
grade this instruction is assisted by beautiful mounted pict- 
ures of great artistic value. The narrative under discus- 
sion was "Sam.uel and the High-Priest Eli." I did not 
enjoy this lesson as much as others, because I saw that 
these intellectually weak childi'en were unable to im- 
agine themselves back in the time of Eli. This lesson 
in its incongruity with the circumstances resembled a 
great bowlder on a smooth prairie. It had no business in 
this school, and was evidently a mere concession to the 
intensely religious sentiment of the town. Elberfeld, as is 
well known, is the stronghold of Protestantism in Rhenish 
Prussia. 

One of the teachers stated that this day was an unlucky 
day, because the pupils were more than any other people un- 
der the influence of the moon, and the moon had just begun 
its first quarter. I had too often noticed this cause of dis- 
turbance in my own schools, to smile incredulously. As long 
as I had schools to supervise I nerved myself particularly at 
the time of the moon's first quarter, for invariably at that 
time pupils were referred to me for correction. The teachers 
seemed to be more irritable and the youngsters more per- 
verse than at other times. 



83 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

D. Means of Instruction. — " It seems that every thought 
in these children must be assisted by instruments to come to 
light," said the teacher. " We can not presuppose a stock 
of ideas in these children as may be done in other schools. 
We are obliged to begin in the most elementary way possible. 
Many of them can not even ' talk straight,' articulation being 
impaired. Here is a set of charts of simple pictures. See 
how we use them." Placing a chart on the easel before the 
class he says, " What is this ? " Child, " Chow," giving the 
c a guttural sound. "No, child, say cow." Child, "Cow." 
"Again, cow, once more." "Tow." "No, child, look how 
I say it, cccow." "Chow." "Look again, Cow." Child, 
" Tow." " Try again, cow." Child, " Tow." 

Turning to me the teacher said : " Notice that this is not 
perverseness, but want of volition. The child has no com- 
mand over its vocal organs. Anna may say a word cor- 
rectly ten times. All of a sudden she changes a sound and 
pronounces it incorrectly and perseveres in it." The charts 
used were twenty-four in number, each having some sixteen 
representations of objects, the names of which were arranged 
with regard to the difficulties offered by the phonic elements 
of which they were built. 

Another set of charts or tablets in use was for the purpose 
of developing the sense of color. The tablets contained the 
different shades of color from the brightest hue to the faint- 
est tint. Pieces of pasteboard colored similarly had to bo 
laid on and matched in color. Some of these children did it 
very nicely, but others were found indifferent to finer shades 
of color, if not color-blind. A third set of pictures were 
used to illustrate zoology, another botany — that is to say, in 
other schools they might be used thus ; here they could be 
employed only for the purpose of stimulating the children 
to talk a little. 

Pictures illustrating the trades, the seasons, biblical his- 
tory, Hey's fables, and geography, were shown. Most were 
very costly affairs, true masterpieces of art. " Why don't 
you hang them uj) and decorate these dreary walls witli 



A SEPARATE SCHOOL FOR DULLARDS. 89 

them ? Would it not interest these children and quicken 
their imagination ? " I asked, " My dear sir," was the reply, 
" every visitor asks me the same question, and invariably I 
answer, We must not dissipate the attention of these children, 
must concentrate it upon one point or nothing will be gained. 
If you could see with what patience we are obliged to pro- 
ceed, you would understand how anxious we are to keep the 
children's minds bent upon one thing. Some things can not 
be comprehended at all, and must be acquired mechanic- 
ally." 

One shelf of the spacious cupboard was filled with a great 
number of little objects, such as bells, cubes, marbles, keys, 
bottles, and cheap playthings, each of which is there in dupli- 
cate. Specially dull pupils are asked to find a duplicate of 
an object shown him, and he sometimes hesitates before he 
decides which to take. After like things have been matched, 
the pupil is set to find others of the same class. Here the 
first attempt at generalization is made. Keys of different 
sizes and shapes are nevertheless all keys, etc. Building- 
blocks are used to match sizes. 

During an articulation lesson I heard, a pupil was found 
to stutter seriously. He was told to breathe deep every time 
he had to answer a question. He did so, and it was success- 
ful. In order to prove to me that a deep breath taken before 
the mouth was opened for speech prevented stuttering, the 
teacher asked this boy several questions in quick succession, 
and the advice i)i'oved good always. Then I took the boy 
aside and conversed with him without giving him the sign 
to take a deep breath, and lo ! the boy stuttered so that it 
was painful to behold. 

(It may be said, in parenthesis, that the efficient school- 
inspector, Dr. Boodstein, contemplates the establishment of 
a special school here in Elberfeld for children with defect- 
ive speech. He has recently issued a circular inquiring 
about the number of such cases in the common school, the 
kinds of defect, length of school attendance, and home con- 
ditions. This inquiry has special reference to stuttering 



90 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

children. Elberfeld is destined to become an educational 
Mecca if it perseveres in its laudable efforts at establishing 
separate schools. There is no danger of its going too far in 
this tendency, for the financial difficulties to be overcome 
are much too great, and most of these Prussian cities are 
deeply in debt.) 

The children are induced to bring to school whatever 
gives them pleasure, and the little treasures are well treated 
and kept in the class museum. Some of these things require 
l^aper boxes to keep them in. These are made by the older 
pupils, who thus get a little practice in industrial pursuits. 
Lace- work, paper-folding, " figure-laying " (by means of lit- 
tle colored pieces of pasteboard), are done to keep the chil- 
dren busy and profitably engaged between lessons in reading, 
writing, arithmetic, and religion. 

Drawing is hardly attempted; singing is very difficult. 
Very few of these children are musically inclined. Geog- 
raphy does not extend beyond the nearest hills, simply be- 
cause this is a study which requires greater imaginative 
powers than these children possess ; indeed, it may be said 
that in nothing are they so deficient as in the power of ab- 
straction and imagination. The girls learn a little of 
needlework from the principal's wife, who comes at stated 
hours. 

A form-lesson greatly interested me. I will merely state 
the results : 

"This is a straight line. (The 

term horizontal is out of the ques- 
tion.) A point is in the middle of 
the straight line. It cuts the line into two halves. The two 
halves are equally large. (It was found too deep a thought 
to see that one half must be as long as the other, or it could 
not be a half.) 

" There is a j^oint on either end of the line. These are the 
end points. One point cuts the line 

' 1 1 ' 1 into halves, and each half is cut into 

two equal parts. 




A VERY PRACTICAL DEVICE. 91 

"If these lines are lengthened, they will touch and cross 
each other. One is a slanting line. Oh, yes, both are straight 

lines. (It was a most laborious task 

to make the boys see that a straight 
line is the shortest distance between 
two points ; but at last the truth 
seemed to dawn upon them.) 

" A slanting line 'hits' the straight 
line. It does so below the line. 

" A slanting line 'cuts' the straight 
line. It cuts it in the middle, etc." 

These are the results obtained by many minutes of pa- 
tient questioning and applying the crayon. Many answers 
had to be corrected and polished before they could be ac- 
cepted and repeated in chorus. 

Verily, thought I, when I left this school for dullards, 
the patience of ten Jobs is needed to teach here, and that 
would not suffice sometimes. Not for any amount of money 
could I be persuaded to try my hand at such Sisyphus work ; 
but all honor to those teachers who attempt what, as Schil- 
ler says, the gods do in vain, to wit, fight with stupidity. 

4. A Very Practical Device. 

A very animated discussion regarding the influence of 
school attendance upon the eye-sight of the pupils has been 
filling school journals and scientific magazines in Germany 
for a number of years. A similar discussion is now being 
carried on in America. It is a timely topic in America, 
where the evil influence of small type in text-books and of 
deficient light has been recognized promptly, although it had 
not been prevalent. Here in Germany the discussion was 
opened several years ago by Dr. H. Cohn, of Breslau, and 
has come nearer a final solution than the discussion in 
America, where some unripe opinions are still uttered and 
reverently listened to. I had no intention of entering into 
the discussion, nor have I now ; but I must be true to my 
present vocation, that of a reporter. Dr. Cohn, of whom it 



92 ELBERFELD-BARMEN (RHEXISH PRUSSIA). 

may be said that he was the instigator of the agitation, has 
made the most practical suggestions. His last and most 
practical of all, I believe, will be welcomed in America. 

The suggestion has a truly American flavor about it. Its 
simplicity and practicability are obvious at the first glance. 

tU ES ^ ^ Effl 

s m s m m s 
a s m s s ra 

ffl ffl li] ffl ffl ffl 

^^m r^j m F*1 ^Qj r^^ 

ffl Q s m s s 

ra s Q s m s 



Fig. 



He lias issued a tablet printed on cardboard, nine by nine 
inches, which has four brass loops, one on each side, so that 
it may be hung up on any of the four sides. This tablet is 
placed on the wall, near a window where the light will be 



A VERY PRACTICAL DEVICE. 93 

strong. Care is taken to hang it at an average height of the 
pupils' eyes. The tablet contains the following marks. I 
send them in their original size, as published by Dr. Cohn, 
for reproduction by an artist, and hope to see them copied in 
that size exactly, so that they may be used in the schools of 
America. I trust some enterprising publisher will reprint a 
separate edition on immaculate white Bristol cardboard, with 
a broad margin all around the thirty-six signs. I find the 
device in use here everywhere. 

Tablet to Test the Vision of School-Children. — Dr. Cohn's 
instructions how to use the tablet: 

1. The tablet is to be suspended on the wall near the 
window, on a level with the average pupil's eyes. 

2. The x>upil whose eyes are to be tested is placed at a 
distance of six metres (about six and a half yards). He 
is asked to state quickly in what direction the figures or 
signs are open, namely, above or belong on the right or left 
side. 

3. All guessing or committing to memory may be pre- 
vented by turning the tablet, which is easily done, each side 
of the square being provided with a loop ; or the order may 
be given to read the figures backward or downward or up- 
ward. 

4. In order to test each eye separately, the pupil should be 
ordered to keep one eye closed. 

5. He who can read the thirty -six signs correctly in 
thirty seconds at a distance of six metres possesses good 
eyes— that is, he has the strength of vision called unity of 
vision : visus = f = 1 (according to the authority of Snellen). 

6. A pupil who can read them correctly at a distance of 
seven metres has a vision of | strength ; at nine metres, | or 
1^ ; at twelve metres, Y^ = 2, or double strength of vision. 

7. He who can recognize the signs and read them aloud 
in thirty-six seconds at 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 metre has |, f (or |), f 
(or ^), f (or ^), and ^ strength of vision. In such cases a re- 
liable optician will furnish suitable glasses for near-sighted- 
ness, being guided by these figures. 



9J: CREFELD (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

8. The weakest concave glasses with which the signs can 
be seen at a distance of six metres indicates the degree of 
near-sightedness. The strongest convex glasses with which 
they can be seen at a distance of six metres indicates the de- 
gree of far-sightedness. 

9. If a pupil of normal vision (see section 5) can not see 
the writing on the blackboard at a distance of six metres, 
the light in the room is insufficient. 

10. It is desirable to keep the tablet covered when not in 
use, to keep it clean. Cn cloudy or gloomy days it should 
be hung up or uncovered to test the strength of the light in 
the room, a pupil of normal sight being the tester at a dis- 
tance of six metres. 



CHAPTER V. 

CREFELD {RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

1. How English is taught in Germany. 

For more than one reason I had studiously avoided 
teachers of languages ; but, in a city where I was well ac- 
quainted with the principal of the gymnasium, I inquired 
about the present status of the method of teaching modern 
languages, and struck a rich field. I was ushered into a 
class-room where the boys of " Tertia " were taught English. 
The Tertia represents the eighth school year or the fourth in 
the high-school. The teacher had been a tutor in England, 
and spoke English very fluently. His method did not re- 
semble the ancient Ollendorfian method, nor had it much in 
common with Sauveur's method. He proved once again 
that the truth is not found in extremes, but in the middle. 
It was a decidedly instructive and fruitful lesson. Let me 
give a meager outline of it : 

A pupil told in English the historical anecdote of the 
Spartan mother who had two sons in the war. When a 



HOW ENGLISH IS TAUGHT IN GERMANY. 95 

messenger came to her to announce that both her sons had 
been killed in the battle, she interrupted him, saying, "I 
want to know whether the battle was won by the Spartans." 
" It was," was the reply. " Then," exclaimed the mother, " I 
rejoice in the death of my sons who have died for the benefit 
of their country." 

This anecdote was repeated several times in the pupils' 
own English. Errors were instantly corrected. Questions 
then followed, which caused a different construction of the 
sentences and idioms. While in the story, as told first, the 
sentence reads, " I want to know," variations now came, such 
as, "I wanted to know, I want to find out, I need to know, I 
do want to know, I shall want information," etc. " I rejoice 
in the death — " was changed to I am proud of, I am de- 
lighted with, I am glad that, etc. 

Now, idiomatic expressions, such as, to be delighted icith, 
glad o/, to rejoice m, to be exultant over^ were treated and 
similar cases looked up, as, for instance, in the fields, in the 
yard. After the idiomatic part of the story was finished, the 
story was repeated orally, and a greater smoothness and ele- 
gance of expression was noticeable in its rendition. Now 
followed a grammatical analysis of certain sentences, nota- 
bly with reference to the position of the adverb. This part 
of the lesson was conducted partly on the board with dia- 
grams. 

The pupils' familiarity w4th Latin and German grammar 
enabled them to compare the rules of the language they 
w^ere studying with those of others ; indeed, they discovered 
and formulated rules in English grammar which will for- 
ever remain a book sealed with seven seals to our American 
children, who aim at a common English education only. 
Not that I think these grammar rules are needed to become 
a good citizen. I am far from claiming that. I only wish 
to emphasize that in rational instruction one branch of study 
should assist the other, as the grammar of one language did 
the study of another in this lesson. 

After this exercise in syntax, one in etymology followed, 
8 



96 



CREFELD (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



and here it was where the beautiful simplicity of the English 
language came to light, while in a discussion of the orthog- 
raphy its darkest spot was revealed. 

After the anecdote mentioned above was thoroughly 
" squeezed " and nothing new could be gained from it any 
more, the boys were told to get their English readers. Their 
reading was fluent as their talk was comparatively correct; 
but the best and most notable feature of this whole lesson 
was that teacher and pupils conversed almost exclusively in 
English. Except where new rules had to be formulated, 
English was the medium of instruction throughout. 

2. A Primary Lesson in Mensuration. 

In one of the largest cities on the lower Rhine I was 
deeply impressed with the excellent work done in the 
schools. Nowhere had I seen such harmony between the 
dilf erent teachers and schools. Comparisons are odious ; but 

from the bottom of my heart I wished to have friend B 

(my eternal opponent in the discussion of modern methods 
of teaching, and withal my dearest friend) with me to show 
him the results of rational application 
of the developing method. Among the 
lessons I heard was one in measuring. 
The pupils could not have been older 
than eleven or twelve years on an 
average. I will endeavor to sketch the 
lesson from notes taken on the spot. 

The teacher drew a square on the 

blackboard and divided it into four 

equal strips; then the strips into four 

equal parts each, as in the margin. During the entire lesson 

the pupils drew on their slates the same figures which they 

saw their teacher draw. 

Teacher. " How many of these little squares are there in 
one row ? " 

Pupil. " There are four of them in one row." 

The pupils always answered in complete sentences, but for 



Fig. 90. 



LESSON IN MENSURATION. 



97 



brevity's sake I will not repeat their complete answers. The 
lesson was one in drawing", arithmetic, and language. 

Teacher. '' How many of such rows ? " 

Pupil. "Four." 

Teaclier. "Have they all the same number of little 
squares ? " 

Pupil. "Yes." 

Teacher, " Then if there are four in one row, and there 
being four of such rows, how many must there be in all ? " 

Pupil. "There must be four times four, or sixteen in 
all." 

Teacher. " Suppose you turn the square so that the top 
is on the left side, could the measuring be done in the same 
way ? Try it on the slates." 

Pupil. " Yes, sir ; it makes no difference which way I 
hold the square." 

Teacher. "Now tell me how you measure this figure 
which is four inches each way. " 

Pupil. " If there are four inches on one side, it means 
that there are four square inches in a row ; and, there being 
four of such rows, there must be four times four square 
inches, or sixteen square inches 
in the large square." 

Other squares of different 
dimensions are drawn and 
measured in the same way. 

Teacher. " Now measure 
this four-cornered figure" (Fig. 
91). 

Pupil. " It has six square Fig. 9i. 

inches in a row and four of 

such rows ; then it must measure four times six or twenty- 
four square inches. " 

Teacher. " Count them and see whether that is right." 

Pupil. "It is." 

Teacher. " Turn your slates so that the long sides of this 
figure are the side lines. How do you measure now ? " 



98 



CREFELD (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



Pupil. " The same way, only that there are only four in 
the first row; but then there being six of such rows gives 
the same result. Four times six is equal to six times 
four." 

Teacher. " Is it necessary every time to lay off the whole 
figure in little squares in order to measure it ? " 

Pupil. " No ; all you would need to do is to measure two 
sides and multiply the two numbers." 
Teacher. " Then let us do it." 

Other parallelograms of different sizes are drawn and 
measured, the pupils rapidly sketched the figures, as the 
teacher did it on the board. 

Teacher. " Let us go back to our first square. Draw a 
line across it from one corner to the opposite corner. What 
does that line do ? " 

Pupil. " It divides the square into two three-cornered 
figures or into two halves." 

Teacher. " Well, if the square measured sixteen square 
inches, what will one of these triangles 
measure ? " 

Pupil. " Eight square inches." 
Teacher. " Now, let us divide the 
square thus. (See figure in the margin 
and dividing line from left to right.) 
Is this kind of a half as large as the 
triangular half ? " 
Fig. 92. (Pupils hesitate.) 

Teacher. "If your mother had a 
gingerbread cake of this shape, and you were told that you 
might take one half of it, how would you cut it ? " 

(Pupil indicates that he would cut it on the diagonal.) 
Teacher. " Why thus ? " 

Pupil. " Because I can begin to eat it better. " 
(A ripple of laughter follows, but it causes no disorder : 
Proof that the pupils are quite at ease.) 

Teacher. " Well, children, what kind of a half would be 
larger ? " 



LESSON m MENSURATION. 



99 



Pupil, " They must be alike. A half can not be smaller 
or greater than the other half." 

By going over the two figures the pupils soon see that it 
is immaterial which way the cut is made, and that the tri- 
angle measures one half of the square. 

Now the diagonal is drawn through the parallelogram, 
and the same truth is discovered. Then follows the rule 
that such triangles are measured by multiplying the two 
sides of the rectangular figure and dividing the product by 
two. 

Then the rhombus (Fig. 93) was drawn, and the pupils w^ere 
told that multiplying the 
two sides would not do. The 
teacher demonstrated this 
in an ingenious way. He 
took an empty slate-frame 
(Fig. 21) and pressed it into 
the form of a rhomboid. 
When the pupils still doubt- 
ed, he pressed it still more, so that the height was only one 
inch, and thus showed them that the area of a rhombus 
made of the four equal lines of a square was smaller than 
that of the square. 

N. B. — No such technical terms as parallelogram, rhom- 
bus, etc., were used, except square and triangle. 

The measuring of the rhombus was performed as the 
dotted lines in the figure indicate, and the rule, that it is 




Fig. 93. 




Fig. 94. 



measured by multiplying one of the long sides by the 
height, fell like a ripe fruit from the tree of experience. 
Just then the bell rang and the class was dismissed. The 
teacher told me that next day he would take the trapezoid 



100 CREFELD (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

also. That, however, was as far as he cared to go with these 
young puj)ils. 

General Walker'' s Echo in Gerynany. — Being asked why 
he refrained from using any technical terms, the teacher 
said : " No ; we don't burden the memories of our pupils 
with technical terms such as trapezoid, rhomboid, parallelo- 
gram, parallelopipedon, etc. We call a rhomboid a four- 
cornered figure and are done with it. The child in the com- 
mon school is no happier, nor wiser, nor better prepared for 
life when he has learned these Latin and Greek terms. If a 
boy enters a technical or a high school and studies geome- 
try, the terms will be given him there. The common school 
has no business to burden its course with ballast." 

Further conversation with the faculty of the school re- 
vealed the fact that they all entertained the same view which 
General Walker in Boston urged lately, namely, that the 
study of arithmetic had in the course of time become over- 
burdened with matter of a nature unsuited for the pupils of 
a common school, and that efforts were being made every- 
where in Germany to eliminate such things. Said the rec- 
tor of the school, to whom the assistant teachers all looked 
up with great veneration, he being a fine-looking, white- 
haired man: "We sound the battle-cry, 'Elimination,' all 
along the line. We want to eliminate much from an over- 
crowded course of study in geography, grammar, and arith- 
metic, and add more literature and history so as to counter- 
act the vicious influences of bad reading-matter smuggled 
into the hands of our pupils by, Heaven knows, unscrupu- 
lous publishers. We want to do more in manual training, 
more in the so-called accomplishments, drawing, music, etc., 
introduce a little of book-keeping, and thus make the com- 
mon-school education what it ought to be — practical. We 
want to teach less for oblivion than hitherto." 

I need not assure my readers how heartily I agreed with 
him. I felt quite at home among this earnest and enthusi- 
astic body of teachers. 



INDIVIDUALITY IN TEACHING. IQl 



3. Individuality in Teaching. 

During my frequent visits to schools here in Germany 
one fact claims my attention with greater force every day. 
It is the absence of that uniformity in methods so often no- 
ticeable in American city school systems. A school super- 
intendent in America, if he be a man of strong principles, 
firm convictions, and practical experience in teaching, will 
often unintentionally impress his personal views, his own 
modes and manners of doing, upon his subordinates. Since 
the great majority of teachers in American cities are women 
who have no individual opinion on educational matters, 
but passively obey instructions without discriminating, and 
slavishly copy models given them, it is easily seen that 
the superintendent very often becomes the motive power, 
or at least the fly-wheel, of the whole machine, the soul 
and spirit of the entire corps of teachers (particularly of the 
"corpses"), the domineering character who fashions the 
instruction of his subordinates according to given patterns. 
Individuality is in the most perilous situation in such a 
" system," 

No such thing is seen here in Germany. A most refresh- 
ing variety in methods is noticeable here, partly owing to 
the fact that every teacher has professional training, and 
partly owing to the absence of local supervision. This gives 
the teachers who are judged by their merits wide elbow- 
room. It is true, however, that more experimenting is go- 
ing on here, and perhaps more waste of time and energy 
upon fruitless attempts ; but I can not repress my astonish- 
ment at the solid results this great liberty of action has. 
The German school everywhere has at least one class-room 
in which an experimental station is established, where new 
ideas are nursed into full bloom. Germany has been from 
time immemorial a mine of information on subjects of edu- 
cational theory and practice — a mine which to me appears 
inexhaustible. 

My note-book is full of sketches and memoranda, and I 



102 CREFELD (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

can scarcely find time enough to worl^ them out and make 
them presentable. How it would cure a stiff-necked con- 
servative American schoolmaster who believes in " keeping 
school, hearing recitation, setting tasks, assigning lessons," 
to come to these schools and study them as minutely as they 
deserve it! But, then, they are not English, you know. 

4. French Pupils in German Schools. 

Despite the bitter hatred Frenchmen entertain against 
Germany, they are fully alive to the superiority of the Ger- 
man schools and try to profit by them. It is now nearly 
ten years since the French national school authorities re- 
solved upon a direct acknowledgment of that superiority by 
sending annually several graduates of French high-schools 
to attend the last two years of the course in German high- 
schools. No indifferent material is sent, to be sure, but only 
boys who have won the first prizes. As I have stated else- 
where (in the article, " A Distinction with a Big Difference "), 
the German secondary schools are well adapted to talented 
pupils, while weaker ones are weeded out. These French 
boys, then, coming as they do like " picked nines," are not 
objected to by German school authorities. They say there is 
no reason whatever to refuse them admittance, inasmuch as 
they conduct themselves properly, and usually are a credit 
to the schools they attend. 

These boys are directed to stay a half-year or a year at 
one school and then go to another. They are not allowed to 
stay two full years in one town, lest they might enter into 
ties too close to suit the French Government. They are di- 
rected to take board and lodging in private families, and to 
live exactly as the pupils of German gymnasiums do. The 
Government pays all expenses during their stay in Germany. 
At the close of each year the students are required to send in 
a report of what they experienced and of the manner in 
"which they utilized their time. Of course, the frequent 
changes of schools and place of habitation are inconvenient, 
but they enable the young men to see a good deal of that 



FRENCH PUPILS IN GERMAN SCHOOLS. 103 

country which ignorant Frenchmen before 1870 thought 
lay near the north pole ! 

I had opportunities to learn something of the contents of 
the reports sent home to the Minister of Instruction, and must 
confess that they are mostly true to life and tally with my 
own observations. Most of the young men are very much 
pleased with the reception they find among the people, the 
teachers, and fellow-pupils. They praise the delicacy and 
tact of their German hosts, a fact which the wounded spirit 
of Frenchmen is apt to appreciate. Some admit that the 
senseless agitation in France concerning " revenge for 1870 " 
makes their stay in certain places unendurable. All, how- 
ever, are loud in praising the instruction they get in school. 

They are unanimous in saying that the German high- 
schools are far superior to the French lycees. Especially in 
mathematics, they think, the German schools prove supe- 
rior. The way the students are made to work out problems 
in geometry, trigonometry, oral arithmetic, etc., the self- 
activity to which the pupils are led, and the independence 
and self-dependence in thinking, are commended. Instruc- 
tion in the sciences also is thought superior to that in 
France. Particularly enthusiastic are the reports about 
gymnastic drill. This is not astonishing if we consider that 
the indulgent French youth is not drilled much at home in 
bodily exercises. An equal share of praise is given to the 
teaching of music. In referring to this the young French- 
men speak with animation of the German songs, which they 
consider very melodious. 

As far as instruction is concerned they have but one 
opinion ; but they do not like the rigid discipline exercised 
in German high-schools. Why, they are not even permit- 
ted to smoke, not even in the sanctum sanctorum of their 
own bedrooms! The slightest deviation from the straight 
road of virtue is punished severely. They are " not treated 
as gentlemen," but " as boys," are obliged to doff their hats 
when they pass a teacher, and are generally treated as un- 
ripe youths. Though I can not myself like the rough treat- 



104 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

ment I noticed here and there, I must admit that the German 
teachers are consistent in regarding no school-boy a gentle- 
man. However pretentious he may be, he is a minor, and as 
such can not lay claim to the dignities of a full-grown man. 
Of course, I full well understand that in a republic this is 
considered heresy ; but we may admit the consistency prac- 
ticed in German schools where the treatment of pupils is a 
reflection of the mode of government, monarchical govern- 
ment, in which respect for authority is "learned by doing." 
In one particular the German high-schools find con- 
demnation on the part of these French students. They say 
Germans pay less attention to show^ — that is, to legitimate 
show. For instance, they care naught for rhetorical polish, 
and their recitations are considered good when the essential 
facts are brought out correctly. The garment of thought is 
neglected. Their teaching of drawing also is less refined 
than that in France. This may be true in the high-schools, 
but I can testify to a wonderful improvement in drawing in 
the lower schools which has not reached the upper grades 
as yet. I trust, though, that in ten years that branch of the 
curriculum will be fully up to the French standard. 



CHAPTER VI. 

cologne {rhenish prussia). 

1. Conservatism and Liberalism. 

A SPECIAL and very politely worded invitation from the 
school authorities of Cologne led me once more to this 
famous city. Things worth reporting, though not in every 
case worth imitating, are going on here in the shadow of 
the finest cathedral in the world, a marvel of the middle 
ages which our nineteenth century was destined to com- 
plete. In order to fully comprehend what I shall say about 



CONSERVATISM AND LIBERALISM. 105 

tlie schools here, I must ask my patient readers to bear cer- 
tain things in mind. 

Consider, first, that this city has a past of nearly two 
thousand years, having been a German settlement before 
the Romans fortified the place in 59 B. c. Its name is a 
corruption of " Colonia Agrippina," as it was called by the 
Romans afterward in honor of the Empress Agrippina. In 
a city of that age there is naturally a dense mist of historical 
reminiscences to overcome. At every movement forward a 
huge mass of prejudices that have their roots in time-hon- 
ored customs and laws must be removed. Effecting reforms 
here is very much more difficult than in American and even 
in other German cities. Goethe's words, " Es erben sich 
Gesetz und Rechte wie eine ewige Krankheit fort," are ap- 
plicable here if anywhere. 

Bear in mind also that recently the ancient fortress has 
been widened, that the old walls are torn down and new 
fortifications are erected a mile or more farther out, that all 
this new space is laid out according to the latest most ap- 
proved styles of European city building and exquisite archi- 
tecture. Consider the great influx of new elements to the 
community in consequence of this opening and the applica- 
tion of modern ideas which clash with ancient creeds and 
meek habits. 

We have in all America no such interesting picture of 
conflict between conservatism and liberalism, no such tur- 
moil of ancient and modern ideas, no such refreshing results 
of modern exertion side by side with moss-grown, decaying 
institutions. Though Cologne is the most devoutly Catholic 
town in Europe, and people here are honestly trying to be 
more Catholic than the Pope in Rome, yet they are the most 
light-hearted of all the gay Rhinelanders. 

To live here a week with eyes wide open, to be conducted 
through schools of varied types and characters, through 
museums, galleries, old churches, new fortifications, dilapi- 
dated city gates, crooked lanes of houses built a thousand 
years ago, and hotels and residences of startling magnifi- 



106 COLOGNE (RHENISn PRUSSIA). 

cence, new stores and factories only finished yesterday, 
through ancient crypts and modern zoological and botan- 
ical gardens, from statues of Bismarck and Moltke of bronze 
to those of questionable saints in crumbling sandstone — is 
like going through wonderland, or, to speak in terms of a 
modern writer, is a liberal education. 

I am painfully aware that this is not a " practical " dis- 
course. The American average teacher is supremely indif- 
ferent to impressions, and expects in a book like this ideas, 
suggestions, sketches, etc., all of which are to be immediately 
applicable in the school-room. I grieve over it, for I am sure 
I might furnish some readable matter ; but I must come to 
the point. What I said in the foregoing paragraphs was 
necessary to set in relief what I shall say about the schools of 
Cologne. 

2. Intermediate Schools. 

The School Inspector of Cologne, Dr. Brandenberg, a 
most accomplished gentleman and an energetic leader, is en- 
gaged at present in reforming the organization of the schools. 
There are a number of schools here called " poor or free 
schools," being intended for and frequented by the poor; 
another number called " district schools," intended for the 
children of the middle class who can pay tuition fees. Now 
here in the stronghold of moss-backed conservatism the idea 
has gained strength that all the schools below the high- 
schools should be made " common schools " ; that tuition 
fees should be done away with ; that the upper grades of an 
eight years' course should be made into what is known in 
America under the captivating but misleading name " gram- 
mar-schools." 

Middle or intermediate schools is the name given them 
here. Among the cities I have seen so far, only Hamburg, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, and Duisburg, have intermediate 
schools. That Cologne should take such a step from which 
so liberal-minded a city as Diisseldorf shrinks timidly is a 
proof of the go-aheadness of the citizens of Cologne. It re- 



PREPARATORY SCHOOL FOR TEACHERS. 107 

minds me of the man who heroically pulled himself out of 
the mire by his own cue. 

3. Preparatory School for Teachers. 

Another praiseworthy step, and, I believe, one worthy of 
imitation, is the establishment of a school for boys called 
preparatory school. Boys and young men who intend to 
become teachers and to enter one of the royal normal schools 
(of which there are more than a dozen in the province) are 
invited to go through a regular course of training in this 
school. This course lasts three or four years. The students 
here get thorough academic instruction, and are trained in 
music, drawing, manual occupations, and gymnastics. Peda- 
gogics and didactics are not taught. These branches are left 
to the normal school with its three years' course and its 
practice department. 

I was curious to see the working of this preparatory 
school, and was much j)leased to meet there the principal of 
one of the royal normal schools who had come on his tour 
of inspection to examine the students. There was a great 
diversity in age and accomplishments among the boys, some 
having come from higher schools, others from the people's 
school ; some being fifteen, others eighteen years of age. 

I heard a music-lesson, one in the theory of music, and 
practice on the violin. This instruction was very success- 
ful, for the solos and quartets which these boys played were 
very acceptable performances. No ancient or foreign lan- 
guage is taught in either preparatory or normal school, 
though the teachers admit that it would have a good effect 
upon the mother-tongue if the students could take up the 
study of a foreign language for comparison's sake, if for no 
other purpose. 

A geography-lesson I heard was another indication of the 
thorough preparation the boys get here. All the matter 
given was offered in a style and in doses which would 
indicate how such matters might be presented to other pu- 
pils. Though no pedagogical principles were preached, they 



108 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

were practiced. Then followed a grammar-lesson whicli 
would have pleased even an Alexander Bain. I intend to 
sketch this lesson in a subsequent chapter. Now, think that 
after the students have finished this course they are exjDected 
to go through a regular course of three years in a normal 
school ! No wonder Prussia has good teachers ! 

The principal of the normal school who had come to in- 
spect the institution was a rather irritable man, who after 
the boys were dismissed criticised the teachers severely ; in- 
deed, as I thought, much too severely, harping on trifles and 
overlooking decided merits. But so well were the teachers 
disciplined by having served in the army, that they did not 
change a muscle in their faces while this tirade against 
trifles was poured over them. No American teacher would 
have stood this unjust criticism without at least claiming 
'"'audi alteram partem,.'''' I could not help feeling sym- 
pathy for one of the teachers, who evidently felt the gross 
injustice of being thus treated in the presence of a guest. I 
turned away. 

4. Feihale Teachers' Seminary. 

In another direction Cologne offers an example worthy 
of imitation. If I am informed correctly, royal normal 
schools in Prussia do not admit women. Young ladies who 
desire to become teachers must get their professional educa- 
tion in a private way as well as they can afford; but the 
Government examines them " just the same " — that is, sub- 
jects them to the same rigid and searching examinations as 
the students of the normal schools. This, it seems to me, is 
a glaring injustice perpetrated by the state. The city of 
Cologne is wiser than the state. It has established a normal 
school of its own for young ladies. The school has a course 
of four years, and very creditable work is done there, as I 
hope to show in my next letter. 

This school is conducted by the school inspector (or su- 
perintendent) himself, who spends an hour a day teaching 
psychology, logic, and history of education. The first two 



FEMALE TEACHERS' SEMINARY. 109 

years are entirely given to academic studies ; the third is de- 
voted to theory and practice as well as academic studies ; the 
fourth year is almost exclusively devoted to psychology and 
experimental teaching. I listened to a lesson in history 
given by a young lady to a fourth-grade class of girls (the A 
Primary). Don't shake your head, fair reader; they begin 
history early in German schools. 

Queen Louisa, of Prussia, the mother of Emperor Will- 
iam, was the subject. The following was the rather limited 
amount of historical facts offered and learned, but they were 
learned well : '' Our present emperor and King of Prussia 
was born in the same year in which his father became king. 
The father's name was Frederick William III. The mother's 
name was Louisa. She was and is still considered the most 
beautiful queen who ever graced a throne. She was very 
kind and lovable, disliked pompous court festivals, and de- 
voted her time to her family. Queen Louisa was passion- 
ately fond of her sons, the elder of which was Frederick 
William, who afterward became King of Prussia and died 
in 1861. The second son was William, who followed his 
brother on the throne. When the boys were still young 
the queen wrote to her father one day, ' If I am not very 
much mistaken, William will be like his father, simple in 
his habits, true, faithful, straightforward, and sensible.' In- 
deed, if ever a mother prophesied right, it was Louisa when 
she wrote these words. When Prussia broke down under 
the strokes of Napoleon, Louisa had to flee to the extreme 
eastern end of the kingdom. She comforted her family, 
completed the education of her two elder sons, and died of a 
broken heart. Her husband redeemed the old glory of his 
kingdom when he entered Paris at the head of his victorious 
army side by side with the Emperors of Russia and Austria, 
and her beloved son William defeated another Napoleon 
even more disastrously than his father had done. The 
Prussian people can never forget that their beautiful Queen 
Louisa had been personally insulted by Napoleon I." 

T give these results only. They may sound rather like 



110 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

Byzantinism in America; but let us be just and acknowl- 
edge that a biography of Martha Washington would be 
flavored similarly in our schools. " To comprehend every- 
thing means to pardon everything." The mode of pre- 
senting this historical matter was crude; but the young lady 
showed that she knew the principles of method, and a 
teacher who knows them is sure to gain skill. 

I also heard lessons given by the professors in mathe- 
matical geography. Never did I enjoy as keen a logical 
train of thoughts in a girls' school as was deduced here; 
never in a college did I observe better results, or greater dili- 
gence either. The most delightful thing I saw here was the 
course of instruction these young ladies get in industrial oc- 
cupation, such as drawing, knitting, crocheting, embroider- 
ing, sewing, mending, and patching. I shall make that the 
subject of a special chapter. 

A teachers' library of several thousand professional 
books on general pedagogics, on psychology, on didactics, on 
methods, on history of education, on special branches of 
study, etc., graces this seminary. The library is open to 
all the teachers of the city, and is used frequently. One 
spacious room is filled with physical, chemical, anatomical, 
geometrical, etc., apparatus and preparations, and all were 
in exquisite order, though they are used every day. 

5. Special Instruction to Teachers. 

One would think that teachers who have enjoyed so 
thorough a professional preparation as I indicated on page 
37, and who have passed all the severe examinations pre- 
scribed and conducted by the Government, would be left 
alone to secure their owai success in the class-room ; but 
far from it. By governmental decree the course in draw- 
ing had beeil changed recently, prescribing that ornamental 
drawing should be brought into close connection with fe- 
male home industry. Forthwith the women teachers were 
called together to spend an evening twice a week in going 
through a special course in ornamental di'awing. It is true 



SPECIAL INSTRUCTION TO TEACHERS. m 

this course is free of charge ; but think of the hardship of 
coming from their distant homes after dark to attend les- 
sons, and late, at nine o'clock, go home perhaps unattended ! 
This course is to last all through the winter. 

Another governmental order had come milking gymnas- 
tics an obligatory exercise in a certain grade of schools 
where it had not been heretofore. Some of the old teachers 
were not prepared to conduct these exercises. Forthwith 
the city provided for a special course in gymnastics under 
the direction of the inspector of gymnastics ; and the aston- 
ishing fact is that these teachers come and spend their even- 
ings for several months to learn exercises on the horizontal 
bars, the rope, the parallel bars, the leap-rope, the iron rod, 
the dumb-bells, etc. Take it all in all, there is a devotion to 
professional duty here in this modern German Empire which 
it is gratifying to behold. 

When, in the presence of the school inspector, I ex- 
pressed my astonishment at the munificence the city author- 
ities show in favor of professional training, he said: "Yes, 
sir, these things may seem strange in the shadow of those 
ancient churches ; but don't forget that that wonderful 
cathedral lay unfinished for centuries until our energetic 
nineteenth century took the matter in hand and finished it. 
It is so in everything. Side by side with the most intoler- 
able reactionary endeavors our city exhibits the truly heroic 
spirit of the modern age. Every street here with its modern 
palaces and old crumbling houses is an example of the dual- 
ism of Cologne's institutions. God be devoutly thanked for 
it that sound modern doctrines take the upper hand in all 
matters pertaining to the schools. The re-establishment of 
the German Empire has had a rejuvenating effect upon 
many institutions, but none has been more benefited by it 
than the school. Our horizon is wider, our former dream- 
life has taken a practical turn, and, take it all in all, we now 
live a life worth living/'' 



112 



COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



6. Two Conveniences. 

Here in Cologne I find in general use a kind of wooden 
blackboard of excellent finish, which consists of two leaves 
hanging on hinges. They can be closed like the leaves of a 
book. If closed, the board presents only one side ; but the 
two (or three) leaves can be turned easily, so that all four 
(or six) sides may be used. If the teacher wishes to preserve 
the sketch of a lesson or illustrations, etc., he can do so by 
turning the "leaf." For the conven- 
ience of smaller pupils the board (or 
boards) may be lowered, it being set 




! 





Figs. 95, 96. 



Figs. 97, 98. 



into a groove and held by an iron pin. This contrivance 
can be made cheaply, and its great practicability led me to 
sketch it (Figs. 95, 96). 

Another convenient apparatus is a map-stand which can 
serve several purposes. The upper rod of a wall map is 
laid into the trough marked a, then a spring in the back is 
touched and the rod marked h is lowered and presses on the 
map-rod, thus holding the map securely. The map may be 



A LESSON IN PHYSICS. 113 

raised to any height one wishes, and can be placed so as to 
avoid a glare from direct sunlight. Reading, music, and 
number charts, copies for drawing, etc., can be suspended 
by the hook without further adjustment. A music-holder 
may be attached to the stand also. The whole is made of 
rod steel, and is light enough to transport it easily. I trust 
some enterprising American firm will profit by the sugges- 
tion this sketch offers (Figs. 97, 98). 

7. A Lesson in Physics. 

It was a grade corresponding to our sixth school year, or 
second year Grammar, where I listened to an interesting les- 
son in physics. Optics was the subject. Of course, it would 
be carrying owls to Athens to repeat the lesson in a book 
published in America, a country where natural philosophy 
is taught so well ; only I wish to call attention to the fact 
that it was in a class of the sixth school year, not a high'- 
school, where I heard the lesson. 

As we can easily imagine, the teacher proceeded by 
means of objective teaching and used experiments and illus- 
trations w^hich lay near at hand ; as, for instance, when he 
brought up the question why the sky was blue, he did not, 
as many a better teacher might have done, explain this by 
referring to facts of which it was reasonable to suppose that 
they were known; but, knowing the kind of pupils he had 
to deal with, he held up a clear pane of glass and placed it 
against the window. Then he added several more panes, till 
about a dozen of them stood upon edge, one in front of 
another. Now he gave the pupils time to deduce the truth 
from the fact before their eyes. It was literally impossible 
to see through these twelve or more panes of glass. From 
that fact to the other, namely, the want of transparency of 
the great cloak of atmosphere surrounding the earth, was 
easy. The color in the glass led them on to find the cause of 
the color of the sky. It was a fine way of teaching, making 
knowledge experience, to be sure. 

Another very taking illustration was suggested by the 



114 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

question how the color of the evening red was produced. 
The room was darkened, a light and the janitor's steaming 
tea-kettle were brought in, and again the boys saw the truth, 
which was crude as yet and had to be refined by means of 
leading questions and much critical analysis; but the begin- 
ning of the truth had been discovered without telling it to or 
imposing it upon the pupils. When the teacher asked how 
it came that we saw the morning red much less frequently 
than the evening red, his face did not betray the fun ; but 
the boys inferred from his question that the morning red 
occurred less frequently than the evening red. It was a 
poser. At last a small boy, who must have noticed my 
smile, suggested that the reason was simply because we lay in 
bed too late to notice it. What a revelation and what fun ! 

Let me add briefly but emphatically that no text-book 
was used, neither had the teacher one in his hand, nor were 
the pupils required to purchase any. When the lesson was 
closed, the home task was given out to write a composition 
on what they had just heard and learned. I venture to be- 
lieve that the boys had something to say. 

8. A Lesson in Grammar. 

The lesson in grammar which I promised to sketch (see 
page 108) treated syntax and as much of etymology as could 
be touched conveniently without leading the pupils astray. 
A simple sentence was taken, such as '^Father called.''^ 
First the essential elements of the sentence, subject, and 
predicate were mentioned. 

Teacher. " What question does father answer to ? " 
Answer. " To the question. Who called ? " 
Teacher. " If I say father came, would the question be 
the same ? " 

Answer. " No, sir ; it would be, Who came ? " 
Teacher. " Is not the interrogative, the questioning word 
who, the same in both questions ? " 

Answer. " Yes, and that word is always answered by the 
subject ? " 



A LESSON IN GRAMMAR. 115 

Teacher. " We will note this in the corner of our black- 
board thus : Subject answers to the question who ? But is 
that the only question the subject may answer ? " 

Answer, '* If the subject is an animal or inanimate thing, 
we can not ask who does this or that, but must say what 
does ? As, for instance, the water bubbles. What bubbles ? 
We can therefore add the word what to the rule, so that it 
reads, Subject answers to the questions Who or What f " 
(Teacher does so.) 

Teacher. '' Why do you say who or what ? Why not 
who and what ? " 

Answer. " Because it can not do both ; it can only do 
one of the two." 

Teacher. "Are there any other questions to which the 
subject of a sentence may answer ? Let us see. Open your 
readers on page 17. Read, John." 

John reads : " The sun shines. Sun, the subject, answers 
to ichat shines ? " 

Fred reads: "The physician hurried to the spot. Here 
the subject answers to the question Who f " 

Other sentences are looked up. All the pupils agree that 
who and what are the only questions to which a subject may 
answer. 

Teacher. " Then we have found a means by which we 
are able to detect the subject of any sentence." 

Pupils are then led to state that the nominative case is 
the Who or What case, and that the subject is invariably in 
that case. A note is made of the fact. 

Teacher. " To what question does the predicate give an 
answer ? " 

Answer. " It answers to the question, What did father do ?" 

Teacher notes in the corner of the board : " Predicate an- 
swers to What does or did do % Are there any other ques- 
tions to which a predicate may give answer ? " 

Answer, after a few leading questions: "Yes, it may an- 
swer to the question What is f as for instance in this sen- 
tence: My father is a carpenter." 



116 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

Teacher. " Well, we will make a note of that, too. Any 
other question." 

Answer, after some searching : " Yes, it may answer to 
How is f as for instance in the sentences, My father is well ; 
the violet is fragrant; the door is open." 

Teacher. " To prevent loss of time by useless searching, 
let me say that these three questions— (1) What does, (2) 
What is, and (3) How^ is ? — are the only ones a predicate can 
answer. Such questions as. What did, or has done, or will 
do, etc., are only variations of what does, being merely 
changes in the tense or mood of the verb." 
1 Pupil. "Do I understand you to mean that the question 
What does ? is always answered by a predicate consisting of 
a verb?" 

Teacher. ''Yes, my boy, I meant to come to that. Now, 
having found that much yourself, tell me of what the pred- 
icate must consist, if it answers to What is, and to How is ? " 

Answer. "A noun and an adjective." 
c Teach^'. "In what case must the predicate noun be ?" 

Answer. "In the nominative, because it answers to what ?" 
' Teacher. "Then we have a new rule. What is it ? " 

Answer. " That the predicate noun, like the subject noun, 
is in the nominative case." This is verified by examples. 

Teacher. " Change the sentence, The emperor is William, 
so that the predicate becomes the subject, thus, William is 
the emperor; are the cases the same as before ? " 

Answer. "Indeed, they are." Several other sentences 
are thus twisted, and the rule is confirmed and noted down. 

Teacher. " Let us see : some one said that the predicate is 
an adjective when it answers to How is ? Is blue an adjec- 
tive?" 

Answer. " Yes, sir." ' 

Teacher. "Then the rule, I am afraid, does not hold 
good. I may say. My favorite color is blue. Blue here an- 
swers to What, not to How." 

Answer. "In this case blue is not an adjective, it is a 
noun." 



A LESSON IN GRAMMAR. 117 

Pupil adds with some satisfaction : " I believe you may 
leave that rule as it is; it is well enough." 

Teacher^ laughing: " As you please. Let us go on. Our 
original sentence may be enlarged by saying, John's father 
called, or my father called ; what addition do I make ? " 

Answer. "You state TT^ose father called." 

Teacher. " Does this in any way limit or modify the pred- 
icate ? " 

Answe7\ " No, it modifies the subject and states definitely 
whose father called." 

Leading questions reveal the truth that Johri's and my 
are attributive elements, or, briefly stated, attributes. 

Teacher. " Can you think of any other attributes which 
are not nouns like Johns in the possessive case, or posses- 
sive pronouns * like my % " 

Answer. " We might further limit the subject by saying, 
My old father called. Old answers to the question What 
kind off' 

'■' Teacher. " Find the attribute in this sentence, The cathe- 
dral of Cologne took six hundred years to build." 

Answer. " Of Cologne is the attribute. It answers to the 
question Which cathedral ? " 

Teacher. "Then we will note down, attributes answer 
to the questions Whose f What kind off Which f" (The 
teacher confided to me afterward that in the next course he 
would further enlarge this topic by drawing in cases of ap- 
position.) 

Teacher. "Now, if you had a long sentence, such as, 
' Yesterday at eight o'clock in the morning the sixty-ninth 
regiment of the Prussian army marched through our town 
with waving banner and a brass band,' how would you find 
out the subject, predicate, and attributes ? " 

Now followed an application of the tests which had been 
learned. Other sentences were treated likewise, and the rule 
was put to the proof in many ways. 

' * My readers must not forget that this was a lesson in German grammar. 



118 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

A statement was formulated which fixed the fact that an 
attribute answering to who^e ? and consisting of a noun, 
must be in the genitive case. Also another, that an attribute 
may consist of a noun in the dative being dependent upon a 
preposition governing that case. But all such considera- 
tions must be left out here in view of the fact that I write 
for people who speak an almost grammarless tongue, accord- 
ing to Superintendent Sill. I will do justice to the teacher 
by saying that he did not once forget his end in view. 

Teacher. " Suppose, now, that we enlarge our sentence 
still further, so that it reads, ' John's old father called the 
dog.' What shall we call this new element ? " 

Now followed a statement as to the questions which ob- 
jects may answer ; in what case they are found ; of what 
words they may consist. My readers may imagine, with the 
aid of the foregoing, how this part of the lesson was con- 
ducted. 

Then followed a similar consideration of the adverbial 
elements, and that bi'ought the lesson to a close. At the end 
of the lesson the blackboard contained these notes, which 
were copied by the boys : 

I. Subject answers to Who or What % always nominative. 

II. Predicate answers What does f What is ? or How is f 
if a noun — always nominative. 

III. Attribute answers to Whose ? What kind f Which f 
If a noun — possessive, or with a preposition which governs 
its case. 

IV. Object answers to Whom or To Whom f What or To 
What ? In answer to the first — dative ; in answer to the 
second, accusative case. 

V. Adverbial answers to [ (a) Time ] : When f Since 
When f and How long f It states present, past, or future of 
an action. [ (6) Place] : Where f Whither f Whence f [ (c) 
Condition] : How f Degree, intensity, and other adverbials 
were omitted for want of time. [ (d) Cause] : Why f What 
fori 

. The home lesson given out was to furnish a sentence from 



GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 119 

the history or reader which would illustrate these rules. For 
a lesson to beginners in grammar it was a very fruitful les- 
son — indeed, rather too fruitful, as I suspect ; that is, it offered 
too much for one lesson. " Less would have been more," I 
believe. Still, I must say I enjoyed it, and the boys did so, 
too : that was obvious. 

9. Girls' Industrial Education. 

I. Every city I have visited here in Germany, has its own 
local flavor, its own peculiar bias caused by its history. A 
German city can not shake itself free from its reminiscences 
and strike out into new domains of human exertion. It is 
commonly thought that America has cause for congratula- 
tion because it has no ruins and no history. But the oppo- 
site idea is worth defending. The inhabitant of Cologne, for 
instance, though he be a beggar, resembles the descendant of 
an ancient family, while the most respected citizen of one of 
the Western mushroom cities in America is like unto the 
man who " has no grandfather." 

While thus it would seem as though I envied the fate of 
a Neapolitan, or Cologne, or Parisian beggar, I beg to state 
emphatically that for myself I prefer the fate of that highly 
respected citizen in yonder Western mushroom settlement, 
for reasons too obvious to mention. But my individual predi- 
lection, and your fancy, my dear reader, are not questions 
to be considered here. I mean to show in this letter that 
a glorious city history dating back through the middle 
ages, and farther back into antiquity, must of necessity in- 
fluence school legislation, and the action of executive officers 
and teachers of such a city. Even if it be desirable to free 
instruction of all such influence (which would be heresy), 
the very stones here in Cologne would speak out and protest. 

Imagine yourself back in the middle ages, and think of 
the exquisite altar-covers, embroidered by the wives and 
daughters of the famous citizens of Cologne. Think of the 
splendid garments with which they used to adorn their saints 
in church and home. Think of the splendor of silken gowns 



120 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

of bright colors worn during the middle ages. Think of 
the costly points and laces of those times, and of the knitted 
jackets worn by the men under their armor. Think of the 
close confinement of the women formerly, and their endeav- 
ors to beautify and adorn homes in their own inimitable way, 
and then bear in mind that these ancient customs are trace- 
able in the churches, in the museums, in public and private 
houses of Cologne, even to this day. 

It stands to reason that among such surroundings female 
manual occupations are considered at par in importance with 
intellectual training. And though, under the high pressure 
of our "modern age of ready-made clothing," the ideals, 
customs, and laws of Cologne have changed, we still perceive 
their influence. There is a causal nexus between the past 
and the present which, though subtle and indefinable, is 
none the less strong and determinate. 

Thus we see the women teachers of Cologne teaching 
the girls knitting, crocheting, embroidery, weaving, sewing, 
lace-making, mending, and patching not only as I saw it 
done in other cities — that is, in a sort of practical crazy-quilt 
fashion, but under the direct influence of beautiful models 
and according to the best pedagogical principles and meth- 
ods. With mute astonishment I followed them (teach- 
ers and students of the girls' teachers' seminary) through 
their " stores." A whole, good-sized room was filled with 
things finished in one year's course. Every object was neat- 
ly wrapped and labeled with the pupil's name, and the dates 
at which it was begun and finished. Everything was scru- 
pulously clean. This exhibition proved the admirable me- 
thodical skill of the teachers, to say little, and the profound 
wisdom of him who had framed the course so as to bring 
this department to so high a degree of perfection. 

Although I can, under high pressure of necessity, sew on 
buttons which will stay on, and mend a seam, I am afraid of 
betraying a woful ignorance with woman's accomplishments 
if I attempt to sketch the course laid down and carried out. 
I will therefore merely say that the course begins with knit- 



GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 121 

ting with two needles a broad strap about a foot long. On 
this strap are taught the various stitches — plain, double, re- 
versed, etc. This is the work of the first year's course. The 
course begins in the second school year at the age of seven. 
It ends within six years with embroidery, lace-making, and 
sewing shirts, chemises, and artistic bedclothing. It in- 
cludes a complete garniture of tidies, embroidery of letters, 
point-lace-making, and thorough instruction in cutting out. 

While the course is inflexible as to the what is to be 
done and as to the number of pieces required to be finished, 
it affords ample elbow-room for the employment of the pu- 
pil's own taste and ingenuity in designing. I was deter- 
mined to follow the saying nil admirari, and refrained 
from praising except as much as could be fittingly expressed 
by a satisfied grunt ; but when I came to the mending and 
patching department I forgot my resolution. That loosened 
my tongue. Imagine, my fair reader, square patches, star- 
shaped patches, circular patches, laid on the sleeve of a shirt, 
patches that looked as handsome as though they were not to 
hide a defect, to wit, a vulgar tear, but to beautify the sleeve. 
A tear in the common form of a Roman V I saw mended 
with such exquisite exactness, by following the woof and 
web of the linen, that I could not help expressing m.y deep- 
felt gratification. The teachers laughed heartily and said: 
" How like a man ! Things that cost a hundred times more 
ingenuity and skill than that leave him cool as a cucumber, 
but when he sees this patching and mending he breaks loose 
in high praise." 

Well, I acknowledged my resolution and was absolved. 
I have seen many beautiful school exhibitions, but none that 
was so genuinely true an expression of what is actually done 
in school daily, hourly. Though most of these things were 
very beautiful, there was nothing there among all those 
treasures which had no practical hearing and could not be 
made use of in any household, rich or poor. White yarn is 
used in knitting, bright colors in embroidering, white linen 
in sewing, so as to accustom the pupils to the most scrupu- 



122 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

lous cleanliness, for it is a rule that no finished thing is to 
be washed. In case it gets soiled, it must be renewed. 

Side by side with each year's course goes a course in 
drawing and designing of patterns which lifts this instruc- 
tion from a mere practical, bread-and-butter exercise to a 
study of no mean importance. In this study and practice of 
drawing can be traced with infallible certainty the models 
of former ages, the influence of beautiful surroundings, and 
of a culture of centuries. This secret power of the beautiful 
has an ennobling influence, one that can not be overrated in 
America and must not be underrated, 

I argued with the teachers, saying, " Many of these 
things need not be learned in our age of machines and 
ready-made linen and clothing." The answer came: "Just 
as nmch as the artisan stands in need of a complete knowl- 
edge and a great deal of skill to understand the entire bear- 
ings of his trade will it benefit our girls to be able to make 
all the things you see here. Think of the many thousands 
of girls who make a living by working for shops. Suppose 
them to be trained like so many miserable, discontented ma- 
chine-hands in shops only to do one kind of thing, to learn 
one knack and nothing more. If they are dismissed, they are 
at the mercy of Heaven knows whom! No, sir; knowledge, 
thorough, systematic knowledge, and high artistic skill never 
lose their value, be the conditions of life whatever they 
may." 

These female manual occupations are taught in some 
schools in America, but nowhere so methodically as here. 
As the children are disciplined by class-work in writing and 
reading, etc., so are they disciplined by knitting. Whole 
classes here knit as the teacher beats time. This exercise is 
part of every lesson in manual occupation. Many a lady 
teacher of manual training in our country is a good seam- 
stress, can cut out, embroider, crochet, and knit well ; but, 
having no professional preparation as teacher, she works 
out her own course and method, usually a very erratic one, 
to put the most favorable estimate on it. 



GIRI.S' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 123 

But see these women teachers at Cologne and hear them 
state principles for every action, every step of their six years' 
course, quote authorities, reason with you from an unassail- 
able vantage-ground of pedagogical authorities, with clear 
insight into the conditions of life, with one eye in the future 
and one in the past, and one can not but acknowledge their 
superiority. 

Being constitutionally free from envy and jealousy, I 
can well afford to praise others, knowing that, though the 
American school lacks this admirable and desirable accom- 
plishment I have described above, it has other virtues which 
redeem it in the eyes of every impartial observer. Hoav- 
ever, I respectfully suggest to school authorities to try and 
lift this particular branch of instruction to a higher level. 
It pays, as is seen in the thrifty industry of German women. 
But if these manual occupations in school did nothing else 
than temporarily lead the pupils from excessive brain-work 
to something equally valuable, that alone would be a suffi- 
cient cause to foster them. But first teach the teachers ! 

II. On a previous page I referred to the fact that, side by 
side with the course in manual occupations for girls, goes a 
course in drawing which lifts this branch of the curriculum 
to a higher level than it can otherwise reach. In previous 
chapters I have paid attention to the boys' drawing, particu- 
larly to their course in drawing from solids, and gave a 
number of copies illustrating this, and I am confident that I 
can in no better way illustrate the course in ornamental 
drawing laid down for the girls than by offering a few sam- 
ples which may prove : 

1. The very systematic and thorough treatment the sub- 
ject receives ; 

2. The practical bearings this kind of drawing has upon 
the manual occupations ; and, 

3. That the results of free inventive drawing or adapta- 
tion of elementary forms in complicated composition are not 
to be despised. 

Not being an artist, I am naturally constrained to select 



124 



COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 



simple specimens, for I am utterly unable to follow the stu- 
dents to higher ranges of art and produce copies of draw- 
ings with many intricate combinations. What I offer in 
the following cuts I saw done by pupils. Instead of giving 
them in their " life-size," I copy them m reduced size from 




Series I.— Figs. 99-107. 



a course laid down for the guidance of the teachers. This 
work is used in several cities, and contains thousands of 
models, all systematically arranged, following each other in 
genetic order. I trust that my readers will readily see from 
this scanty selection that the models are adapted to be ap- 
plied in work with yarn, cloth, linen, lace, etc. 



GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 125 

Another batch which follows this one may give evidence 
to the development of the sense of beauty. But of that, 
more anon. 

Series I consists of polygons in the circle and the simple 
stars that may be inscribed. These do not, by far, exhaust 




Series I.— Figs. 108-1 



the series. They are only a few selected ones. There are 
still hundreds of possibilities for combinations. Of course, 
in drawing them the ruler and compasses are used. The 
compasses are introduced during the sixth school year. (See 
Figs. 99-125.) 

One of the objects of the teachers in the upper grades is 



126 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

that the pupils may be led to invent new forms from given 
lines, curves, and measurements. This is not as hard as it 
would seem. Children here display a great deal of ingenu- 
ity. Of course, these invented forms are only reinventions, 




Series I.— Figs. 117-125. 

for there is hardly any ornamental form that has not been 
produced before by others. But that does not lessen the 
value of the pupil's own work. Such work is formative to 
a high degree. I add two of such reinventions to show 
the conceptive power of a developed sense of form and 
beauty. (See Figs. 126, 127.) 



GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 



12T 




128 COLOGNE (RHENISB PRUSSIA). 

Series II, which follows on page 129, is a reproduction in 
miniature of drawings which I saw beautifully colored in 
sepia, green, yellow, blue, etc. (See Figs. 128-135.) 

I sincerely hope none of my readers will think it super- 
fluous to have these specimens cut in wood. I trust they 
will be heartily welcomed by the women teachers, especially 
at a time in which manual training for the boys is so ably 
and masterly defended. To reverse the proverb, " What's 
sauce for the gander ought to be sauce for the goose." 

Series III. The drawings I submit in this series are from 
the same course to which the others belonged. From plain 
geometrical figures the course leads over to a more inde- 
pendent use of the curved line. The combinations are all 
very fine. Conventionalized animal and plant forms are 
brought in, and the way is paved to free invention of new 
forms. The schemes of geometrical figures arc the common 
property of all the nations that ever tried to conventionalize 
forms. But every civilized nation which has established a 
national self-dependence turns to certain forms as its fa- 
vorite ones, and develops these in \nilgar as well as in fine 
art, and often succeeds in opening new vistas into undis- 
covered realms of art. Thus national styles originate. 
Think of the straight line and the triangle, and you have 
the ground-form of Greek architecture ; think of the half- 
circle, and you have the Roman form ; think of the two arcs 
meeting in a point, and you have the Gothic ; and so I might 
go on through a chapter of the history of art. (See Figs. 
lCG-138.) 

But I fear that an essay on that subject would be written 
pour le rot de Prusse, as the Frenchman says. The author 
would have to let it die an ignoble and cruel death in the 
waste-basket. Suffice it to say that styles are taught here in 
school in a most practical way "by doing." Besides, every 
one of the rosettes I copied may be found chiseled in stone 
or carved in wood, by inspecting the Cathedral of Cologne, 
or the elegant portico of the city hall, or the ancient tower 
of that hall, or the stained-glass windows found in almost 



GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 129 




Series II.— Figs. 128-135. 



130 COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 

Series III. 



Fig. 13G.— Modern Style. 




Fig. 137.— Gothic Style. 



GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 



131 



every ancient building, especially in the cathedral. The se- 
lections I offer here are so different in conception that they 
indicate the vast variety possible. 

I add also two applications of animal and plant forms, 
representing two distinct styles, the one modern, the other 
Gothic. I select these because I found them beautifully re- 



^^ 



T»M 



Fig. 138. 

produced in lace and embroidered tidies. If I find more 
sets of such drawings I shall with pleasure copy and insert 
them. 

Series IV. The drawings submitted in this series are taken 
from courses pursued in various schools of Germany. I in- 
sert them because the forms, despite their eminent beauty, are 



132 



COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 




Series IV.— Figs. 139-148. 



GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION". 



133 




Series IV.-Figs. 149-154. 



13i COLOGNE (RHENISH PRUSSIA). 




Series XV. -Figs. 155-lW. 



THE OLD AND THE NEW. 135 

simple and can be reproduced in crocheting and in other 
ornamental needlework, as I saw it done ; also because few 
hand-books for girls' industrial education in our country 
contain models of this kind. Of course, I do not intend to 
publish such a manual, but I sincerely hope that the models 
here offered may be of service to teachers and give them a 
standard with which to measure their own efforts. (See 
Figs. 139-160.) 



CHAPTER VII. 

BERLIN. 

1. The Old and the New. 

From Cologne, the ancient, I went after a short interval 
to Berlin, the modern city of the German Empire, and the 
move proved a very happy one, for I could thus notice the 
fundamental difference between the two cities and compare 
the impressions they made upon me. In one thing Berlin 
has the advantage over Cologne and many other old cities 
of the empire : its school system is a rather recent growth. 
Not that I mean to say Berlin has not had communal 
schools as early as the beginning of this century, but the 
city authorities had allowed the private-school calamity to 
grow to an insuiTerable degree, so that the communal-school 
system had degenerated to a system of poor or pauper 
schools. But when, under the overpowering influence of 
the rejuvenation of the empire, Berlin became an imperial 
city, and Dr. Falk, the liberal-minded lawyer, was appointed 
Minister of Education, soon after 1871, the city school system 
took an upward start, such as can scarcely find a parallel, 
unless it be the sudden establishment of a system of '' board- 
schools " in London. 

Berlin has no more old school-houses. No such iniqui- 
ties as dedicating an ancient, musty convent to school pur- 
poses are tolerated by the Berlin city fathers If, in any 



136 BERLIN. 

part of the marvelously expanding city, a school-house is 
needed, no old relics of former glory are used, but a new 
house is built. The many private schools that used to flour- 
ish like mushrooms have shriveled up and disappeared; 
even tuition fees are a thing of the past in liberal-minded 
Berlin. And the state encourages this with all its might. 
Its own institutions in Berlin, the royal seminaries, the uni- 
versities, the technical and art schools, are improved and 
rebuilt on a grand scale. 

One day I went to see the mausoleum of Queen Louisa, 
at Charlottenburg, and on my way I noticed a building in 
Florentinian palace style of graceful beauty, immense di- 
mensions and exquisite finish, situated on a public boulevard. 
I inquired of my " Murray " what great personage lived here, 
and read to my delight that this was the new Polytechnic 
University. Well, I had my passe-partout in my pocket, 
and on my return from the mausoleum I entered this palace 
(my pen hesitates to write school-house), was shown all over 
it, and enjoyed the sight of what modern ideas of school 
architecture had accomplished. It lies outside the province 
of my reports to say anything of what I learned here or in 
the university and museums of Berlin. It is but just, though, 
to mention the proud efforts of state and community which 
vie with each other in producing something that will mark 
the time of the Emperor William as an era of unparalleled 
exertion in all domains of education, art, science, industry, 
and military defense. 

Another signal difference between Berlin and such cities 
as Cologne, Mayence, Strasburg, etc., is the absence of statues 
of saints, popes, and similar personages in Berlin. One sees 
here the heroes of the people : the Great Elector Frederick 
William, King Frederick the Great, the famous field-mar- 
shals and generals of the Prussian army ; the great men of 
science, Humboldt and Leibnitz, the poets and painters, and 
numerous symbolic statues, mostly formed after classic mod- 
els, statues of rare beauty in bronze, marble, and sandstone. 

Shall I generalize and say, Cologne and other old Ger- 



THE OLD AND THE NEW. I37 

man cities offer reflections of the devout aspirations and 
efforts of the middle ages; Berlin, a child of the modern age, 
exhibits in all its doings a practical turn of mind. In noth- 
ing have the two cities expressed their character better than 
in their city halls : Cologne's quaint and incommodious city 
hall, with its moss-grown old Gothic tower of rare architect- 
ural beauty, a structure which seems to point upward ; and 
Berlin's " brand-new " city hall, with its overpowering grand- 
eur and square, massive, yet withal beautiful tower which 
appears to plant itself squarely and say, " Here I am, and 
I've come to stay." 

My journey, with its many professional excursions, is 
expensive, but I do not rue the cost. What a multitude of 
ideas this journey is furnishing me at nearly every tm^n of 
the road; what a world of scenery; what a taste for the 
beautiful ! 

Before I enter upon the individual work of the teachers, 
I must mention the school-houses in Berlin. It is custom- 
ary to judge from outside appearances. I do not wish to 
fall into the same mistake, but I venture to say that in 
houses well ventilated and warmed, well arranged and even 
adorned, the educational influence of the school is more re- 
fining than where all these desirable things are wanting. 
Now it is but true to say that we Americans have not much 
to learn, if anything, in regard to school-house architecture. 
We are far ahead of the Europeans in the arrangement of 
space, in ventilation and heating, but not in adorning the 
school-houses. Our plain, whitewashed walls are ugly. 

There is one other consideration in which the Berlin 
school authorities give their brethren of New York, Phila- 
delphia, and other populous cities a shining example ; it is in 
the position of their new school-houses. This is so unique, 
so well calculated to meet the circumstances of a large town 
and the well-founded requirements of school, that it is worth 
while to call attention to it. 



138 



BERLIN. 



2. Position of School-Houses. 

My readers who live in sQialler towns, where the school- 
house is the most prominent building surrounded by large, 
shady yards, must understand that their standard of a school- 
house can not be realized in a city like Berlin. Open spaces 
are rare in Berlin, almost equally rare are trees. But the 



STREET 




STREET 



Fig. 161. 

school authorities have hit upon a solution of the difficulty 
which is worth reporting. New school-houses are built in 
the inner court-yard of a block of houses surrounded by four 
streets. Two gateways lead to the school-yard. The above 
sketch, made from memory, may explain the plan. 

The dotted lines are to represent low walls which inclose 
the courts belonging to the dwellings surrounding the square. 



THE TEACHERS OF BERLIX. 139 

All around the yard is found a row of trees and flower-beds, 
of which more anon. The school-houses are three-story 
buildings built of pressed brick, but have the look of very 
substantial architecture. The first and second fl.oor eax;h 
contains six school-rooms ; the third floor contains the ses- 
sion-room (aula) of the school, which is used on festive oc- 
casions and for meetings. Sometimes, when there is no 
special building for the rector on the grounds, a dwelling is 
found on the third floor. 

Usually two buildings, one for boys and one for girls, are 
found on these school-grounds. A third building, one story 
high, is used for gymnastic exercises. This latter building 
is never wanting. Hardly ever is a school-building found 
facing a street, except in the older part of the town. One 
may wander through many a street without seeing a school- 
house. The market-halls are built in the same way, in the 
inner square of a large block of houses. 

In most of the yards of the schools I visited I found 
flower-beds, and I heard that they were used by the teacher 
of botany quite extensively. The children are here induced 
to study leaf -forms and observe the growth of plants. If a 
row of trees is planted, care is taken to select as great a vari- 
ety as can be conveniently placed. The sense of ownership 
which is fostered in the children with regard to these flower- 
beds, shrubs, and trees, is perhaps the best protection that can 
be applied. Compared with American school-yards, those in 
Berlin are small, but that even on them a small portion is 
set apart for a school- garden is laudable and deserves to be 
imitated in large, crowded cities; in smaller towns of the 
West, where every family has a garden of its own, it may 
perhaps be superfluous, although in the interest of rational 
teaching it may not seem so. 

3. The Teachers op Berlin. 

I had not been in Berlin quite five days, when I had oc- 
casion to compare notes with a colleague from Norway. I 
told him I had seen six schools (three comuion schools, one 



140 BERLIN. 

gymnasium, one higher girls' school, and a private school), 
ia each of which I had spent two or three hours; six mu- 
seums (the National Gallery, the old and the new museum, 
the wonderful armory with its Hall of Fame, and two school 
museums) ; had heard two operas and attended three meetings, 
namely, one of the Teachers' Social Club, one of the teachers 
of the third school district, and a banquet. He thought that 
was making a business of pleasure, but I assured him that 
this was the only way which would enable me to accomplish 
what I had come to do. 

Mr. 01 sen, the Norwegian School Councilor, agreed with 
me that the teachers of Berlin are a remarkable set of men, 
in aspirations, in skill, in results, professional as well as 
social and political. Berlin has so many teachers who have 
ideas and are not slow in giving utterance to them, that it is 
worth associating with them. They have a number of clubs, 
societies and so many official and private conferences, that it 
was well-nigh impossible for me to attend them all. Some 
urgent invitations I was sorry to decline, but circumstances, 
such as great distance from my hotel, demanded it. 

The teachers here maintain a daily paper of their own, 
several weeklies, and support with literary contributions 
many professional journals outside. Think of maintaining 
and supporting their own press ! Yet they are not clannish, 
only they stubbornly defend their professional interests, and 
their esprit du corps has done wonders, for nowhere in 
Germany are the teachers paid so well as here in Berlin; 
nowhere do teachers occupy so high a rank in society as here, 
where they support their demands by numerical strength 
and claim respect by their talents. I assure my readers, the 
teachers of Berlin are factors on which the city fathers 
reckon. 

How I should like to see the teachers of New York, 
Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. 
Louis, etc., maintain their rights with the aid of the ballot- 
box and a press of their own ! How soon some miserable 
wretches of political tricksters who fi.nd their way into the 



TWO SCHOOL MUSEUMS. 141 

Board of Education would vanisli from the surface ! As cir- 
cumstances are now, his Satanic Majesty must have a broad 
grin on his face, reaching from ear to ear, when he sees some 
of the vilest of men, men who can not even write their names, 
lifted by the grace of popular vote to the dignity of members 
of the Board of Education ! 

Comparisons are odious, it is said. That may be ; but 
they are very instructive. When I see a school system 
maintained by wise, conservative legislation, governed by 
men of unquestioned wisdom and unsullied reputation, and 
in that system a body of teachers every one of whom is a 
professional teacher, I can not refrain from comparing what 
is with what might be in our country. 

I had only one fault to find with the teachers of Berlin. 
Many whom I visited in then' school-rooms soon after I ap- 
peared dropped the lesson of the day and began to review, 
bent on showing what their pupils knew and could do. Of 
course, to see what could be accomplished was very interest- 
ing, but it was not what I had come to see. So, one day 
when I was called upon to address a gathering of teachers, I 
took occasion to ask them to show me how they taught, not 
what they had accomplished. 

From that day my visits were more fruitful to me than 
before, and, when I left Berlin after three weeks of hard 
work and much sight-seeing, I had a note-book full of the 
most interesting notes. 

4. Two School Museums. 

In Cologne I had seen a well-stocked Exposition of Means 
of Instruction, supported by private exertions. Here in Ber- 
lin I found two school museums, one maintained by the city, 
the other by voluntary contributions of the Berlin Teachers' 
Association. The City School Museum is situated in the 
hall of the forty -sixth common school, on Stallschreiber 
Street. It contains many thousands of bound books on peda- 
gogy and kindi^ed sciences. The hall is very well adapted 
for the purpose. The books are arranged on two rows of 



142 BERLIN. 

black-walnut shelves neatly carved. The shelves are found 
all around the room. The upper row is approachable by iron 
stairs and a balcony which leads all around the hall. On 
the long side of the hall spacious alcoves or side rooms open, 
which are filled with apparatus for physics and chemistry., 
collections for the study of physiology, botany, zoology, 
mineralogy, maps, charts, general and special maps and de- 
vices for suspending them, apparatus for the study of geome- 
try and drawing. In fact, it is a valuable collection, such 
as every large city could well afPord to have, but the like of 
which, I am sorry to admit, can not be found in America. 

The city pays four thousand marks every year for repair- 
ing and new purchases. This is not much, but with good 
management it goes a great way. Many a valuable book, 
stuffed animal, bust, map, etc., is presented to the museum, 
and thus the institution can keep pace with the modern re- 
quirements of our professional science and art. 

The other museum is not as well supported ; but it is a 
specialty such as can not be found anywhere else except, 
perhaps, in Switzerland, where " The Pestalozzi-Stuebchen " 
may vie with this museum. The peculiar charm of this one . 
is its unique arrangement prescribed by its object. The 
owners emphasize the historical development of popular ed- 
ucation. There is, for instance, one section which contains 
every publication and device concerning the study of geog- 
raphy, arranged according to historical stages of develop- 
ment of that science so far as it comes within the pale of the 
common school. Another section represents the methods of 
teaching language. This contains only books and a few 
charts which provoke a smile at the oddities into which hu- 
man ingenuity can be misled. Again, another section has 
reference to object-lessons. A very valuable section this is. 
Another is devoted to arithmetic, and here I could not con- 
trol myself. I broke out into laughter when I observed the 
queer machines and contrivances made to assist the teacher 
in arithmetic. Since most of these things are antiquated, it 
does not pay to sketch them. 



CORRECTING COMPOSITIONS. 143 

Of late the managers of this private museum have under- 
taken the task of collecting everything available and obtain- 
able with reference to Diesterweg, the Horace Mann of 
Prussia. This is a most interesting section. At present a 
Harkort section is being made. 

Take it all in all, the Berlin common schools are any- 
thing but a stagnant pool. There are life, exertion, enthusi- 
asm, ambition, literary skill, successful teaching, and good 
results. The administration is similar to that of American 
schools. There is a school commission (a committee of the 
City Council), a general superintendent (called school coun- 
cilor), seven assistant superintendents (called inspectors), a 
rector at the head of each building, and many associate 
teachers. Only those teachers who are not engaged defi- 
nitely as yet are called assistants. These have to prove 
their fitness during a probationary term. After that they 
are fixtures and can not be removed except for cause. 

5. Correcting Compositions. 

In a class representing the seventh school year of a dis- 
trict (or communal) school in Berlin, I heard a lesson which 
I shall not readily forget. The teacher had a stack of com- 
position-books on his desk, and the boys sat with eager ex- 
pectation before him. The compositions had been corrected 
with red ink, and the teacher now took one after another 
and discussed mistakes he had found several times. His 
mode of criticism was very interesting. An error in orthog- 
raphy was corrected by asking the offending party to spell 
the word orally and write it on the blackboard. 

The subject of the composition was Schiller's " Lay of the 
Bell," which had been read and thoroughly treated. The 
teacher was rational yet withal charitable in his criticism, for 
he never needlessly wounded the spirits of his pupils till he 
came to one where his patience seemed to forsake him. He 
broke out, saying : " How could you be so stupid as to write 
such things ? No," he added, " I'll take that back. Stupid- 
ity is not your besetting sin, but criminal negligence." It 
11 



144 BERLIN. 

was a study to see the face, which showed defiance at the 
accusation of being stupid, soften when the teacher did him 
the justice to acknowledge that it was not stupidity but neg- 
ligence which lay at the root of this worthless work. The 
boy bowed his head in shame and said : " Please, sir, I was 
hurried when I wrote this work. I'll do it over again if 
you'll allow me. I am sure I can do it better next time." 

Sentences which were faulty in construction were writ- 
ten out in full after being corrected orally. Then they were 
repeated in chorus, and thus the correct construction made 
a more lasting impression. I nowhere find incorrect words 
or sentences spread on the board in German schools, and I 
am induced to think that this is more beneficial than the 
sight of numerous mistakes. An error which had its root 
in dialectic speech was weeded out thoroughly by making a 
number of pupils repeat the correct form, while the incor- 
rect form was heard only once. Thus the frequent repeti- 
tion of the correct obliterates the incorrect form. Like the 
teachers in Ehenish Prussia, those of Berlin have to fight 
constantly with the wretched dialect of the lower strata of 
the population. The teachers of Thuringia and the provinces 
of Saxony and Hanover have an easy time of it compared 
with the Sisyphus work of their colleagues in Berlin and 
Cologne. 

Well, this work of correcting went on, and the teacher 
dealt out his commendation and reproof with the spirit of a 
true educator who knows every one of his pupils and gives 
his doses according to the nature of the disease. This lesson 
closed, and at the stroke of the clock the next followed. It 
was a unique one, to say little. On the programme it was 
marked "Miscellaneous." The teacher explained that this 
hour was reserved every week for the boys' " spontaneous 
e£Ports." Each pupil was permitted to prepare a contribu- 
tion of his own, the reading of a composition on a topic 
chosen by himself, or the recitation of a poem of his own 
choice, or an oral description of scenery viewed, or a narra- 
tion of an event witnessed by himself, etc. 



MODE OF PROCEDURE. 145 

Tliis was a very instructive lesson to — the teacher ; yes, 
instructive to him, for it gave him an opportunity of studying 
his pupils. Thej unconsciously revealed their true nature, 
partly by their choice of a subject, partly by their mode of 
rendition, partly by the reception their work found among 
their schoolmates. 

"You see," said the teacher, "this is my special study- 
hour, and the notes I take during this hour spent in listen- 
ing to voluntary contributions are of incalculable benefit to 
me." I spent a day in this school in several class-rooms, and 
traced among the entire corps of teachers the influence of 
this excellent rector. 

6. My Mode of Procedure. 

I must not repeat myself, and can therefore not sketch 
many of the lessons I saw in Berlin, because they very much 
resembled the lessons I sketched on previous pages. This 
time a statement of my mode of jDrocedure may take the 
place of a description. 

Early in the morning, before eight o'clock, I call at the 
office of the rector, hand him my passe-partout, and am re- 
ceived with courtesy. He places before me his daily pro- 
gramme, which contains a summary of all the daily pro- 
grammes of the whole school — that is, of all the class-rooms 
in the house. Upon inquiry after special meritorious cases, 
I get the information I want and select the lessons I desire 
to hear ; but I am careful to select several for every hour of 
the school day, so that, in case I may have made a poor 
choice, I can retire to another class-room. If I "strike a 
gold-mine," I stay; if, on the contrary, I find indifferent 
teaching (which, to do honor to truth, happens rarely), I 
usually advance some plausible pretext for retiring. Thus 
I am enabled to see a good deal. Though it is exhausting 
work, it lasts only till twelve or at most till one o'clock. 
(For reasons, see No. 9 below on school sessions in Berlin.) 
The afternoons are left to pleasure, sight-seeing, and atter^d- 
ing teachers' meetings. 



14:6 BERLIN. 

One day I followed an urgent invitation to a private 
school. I had spent ahout an hour in it, and had gone from 
room to room without seeing anything that could entice me 
to stay, when I took French leave and went in search of 
another school. My usual luck favored me. I came to the 
Coelnische Gymnasium, and was greatly elated at finding 
that the rector was Prof. Dr. Kern, the famous grammarian, 
a man who has recently published a number of books on a 
new mode of treating grammar, and a text-book on pedagogy, 
for young teachers. I had a charming interview with Prof. 
Kern, and shall remember his school. 

On the programme Avas trigonometry in Lower Prima, 
taught by Prof. Hermes, author of well-known text-books 
on mathematics ; and, since I was desirous to compare the 
teaching of such a man with that of others I had seen, I ex- 
pressed that desire. Prof. Kern said, " You seem to know 
where you may expect something worth seeing." Well, he 
took me up to that teacher, and I was very glad of it after- 
ward. 

The professor, a fine, old, white-haired man, took no no- 
tice of us after the introduction, and I had the best opportu- 
nity to observe him and his students. A very difficult and 
knotty problem was given out, and a few moments were 
spent in hard thinking. Then a student was called up who 
began to demonstrate. At a deviation from the mathemati- 
cal logic, the professor followed up this thread and proved 
its absurdity, then led the student back to where the break 
had occurred, and again the student started out. He did not 
rise from his seat, but, while solving the problem orally, 
made the algebraic figures with astonishing velocity in his 
note-book. 

Another student was called who got through the whole 
solution without a break. A third was called to the board 
to demonstrate the problem by drawing the figure, and it 
was a sight worth seeing as the boys sat there watching the 
demonstrator. The professor was an excellent methodician. 
He never did for the students what they might do for them- 



HOME-MADE CHARTS. 147 

selves. His memory was simply prodigious. When, after 
about ten minutes of demonstrating, a student mistook the 
letter m for n, the professor, without looking at the board, 
said, " Look again, you are mistaking one angle for another." 
I was convinced that these students learned mathematics 
thoroughly. 

Though I heard many fine lessons in Berlin, I missed the 
methodical skill I had found in some schools in the western 
part of the kingdom. Herbart is not considered in Berlin 
the great apostle which they make of him in Saxony and 
Thuringia. 

7. Home-made Charts. 

In a school in Berlin I noticed a number of charts that 
had been made of common dark-blue packing or wrapping 
paper. This paper had been pasted on a light wooden frame. 
The teacher had then written on the paper or sketched his 
illustrations with pointed white and colored crayons very 
neatly (they had reference to botany, zoology, physiology, 
physics, etc.), and then, in order to preserve them for future 
use, he had covered the paper with fresh (unboiled) milk. 
The soft, spongy paper had absorbed the fluid, but the milk 
formed a sufficiently strong coat of varnish to preserve the 
crayon-marks. The paper, when dried thoroughly, was 
stretched tight, and lost its former flabbiness, so that the 
charts when hung up for use would not collect dust any more 
than any other smooth surface. The charts can be dusted 
with a feather or hair dust-brush without injury to the 
illustrations ; the only thing which will injure the charts is 
moisture, for that will warp them. 

I inquired whether the wooden frames were necessary, 
and the reply was, "Yes, lest the paper become warped 
during the process of drying after it is soaked with milk." 
But one frame will do for a good many charts. After one 
is thoroughly dry, it may be cut out of the frame and hung 
up for use, or secured in a portfolio. Then a new chart is 
mounted, covered with illustrations and writing, and then 
" milked " to give it a coat. The milk must not be spread 



148 



BERLIN. 



over with a brush, but poured over the sheet. The teacher 
who had hit upon this device was a handy draughtsman, and 
had prepared a great number of charts for plant analysis 
and other studies, and he adds a few charts to his stock 
every year. Some of those I saw were ten years old, but 
they were as fresh-looking as though made yesterday. 

8. A Map-Suspender. 

Sometimes a teacher neglects to hang up a map during 
the lesson in geography, because it is inconvenient to handle 
the large, unwieldy wall-map. To be candid, in some schools 
no devices for suspending maps easily are found. In Berlin, 

in a school for young ladies, 

^ / (^ I found a device which 

deserves to be mentioned. 
Here is a sketch of it : 

An iron rod is fastened 
close to the wall ; from that 
is suspended by two hooks 
a tin cylinder, which has 
a slit one third of an inch 
in width. Into the cylin- 
der is shoved the upper rod 
of a mounted map while the map passes through the slit. 
A handle soldered on to the cylinder affords an easy hand- 
ling. The young ladies used the apparatus dexterously, 
and changed the maps without loss of time. 

9. Length of School Sessions. 

In Berlin the daily school session opens at eight o'clock 
in the morning and usually lasts till one o'clock, rarely till 
two. The primary classes are dismissed at twelve o'clock. 
In the afternoon only such classes as were dismissed at 
one or at twelve have one more lesson, but this is a lesson 
in gymnastics, drawing, and industrial pursuits. No absorb- 
ing brain-work is done in the afternoon. From eight till 
one o'clock are five hours ; that is considered enough for 



MAP SUSPENDER. 



view of lower side. 
Figs. 162, 163. 



NORMAL SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES. 149 

one day's brain-work. But notice that this five hours' work 
takes place six times a week, the pupils having-, as every- 
where else in Germany, no whole holiday on Saturday, but 
are free on two afternoons, namely, Wednesdays and Satur- 
days. Since the afternoons of the other four week-days are 
occupied with gymnastics, manual work or drawing, the 
fact remains that the pupils here do a solid day's brain- work, 
of five hours each, six times a week. 

It may be claimed that five consecutive hours is too much 
for one session. That is true, but the difficulty is obviated 
by giving the pupils a recess after each hour. There is a 
short recess of five minutes at nine and at eleven o'clock, 
and one of ten minutes each at ten and twelve o'clock. 
These frequent recesses prevent an undue exertion of the 
brain. Though the order which makes the boys do six days' 
work is very ingenious, I doubt whether our independent 
American youth would submit to the arrangement which 
would virtually wipe out their time-honored privilege of en- 
joying a holiday on Saturday. 

As to vacations, they have here one week at Christmas, 
one at Easter, one at Whitsuntide, and three weeks at har- 
vest-time in the fall (usually in September) ; total, six weeks. 
Deduct this from the fifty-two weeks of the year, and you 
have forty-six school weeks left, as compared with our forty. 
Few city schools in the United States have a longer school 
year than forty weeks. It stands to reason that a school can 
accomplish more in forty-six weeks of six days each, than 
one in forty weeks of five days each, all other things being 
equal. 

10. Normal School for Young Ladies in Berlin. 

A. The Building. — My former connection with the Cin- 
cinnati Normal School has left a special liking in me for 
schools of similar character. I saw one in Cologne, and have 
mentioned my experiences there in former letters. Here in 
Berlin I had occasion to see and thoroughly inspect another 
normal school for women. Comparisons are odious, and I 



150 BERLIN. 

will therefore refrain from comparing this school with 
similar institutions in America, though I am sure the com- 
parison may in some instances turn the scale in favor of 
American schools, notably if the munificence with which 
they are founded and supported is taken into consideration. 

The school I wish to speak of is not a city institution like 
the one in Cologne, but is supported by the state exclusively ; 
in fact, it is the first state institution of this kind in Prussia. 
In one of my former letters I said that the state as such of- 
fered no professional training to young ladies who intend to 
become teachers. This is not quite correct. The state partly 
supports a few such normal schools ; but their number is not 
in just proportion to the number of normal schools for 
young men. It is perhaps two or three to one hundred. 
This seminary in Berlin, together with its extensive practice 
department of over fourteen classes, is known as the " Au- 
gusta School." It enjoys the " protection " of the Empress 
Augusta, whose bust, in over life-size, adorns the large ses- 
sion hall, of which more anon. 

The school-house is a magnificent building which has 
cost five hundred and fifty thousand marks, or about one 
hundred and ten thousand dollars, to build. It consists of 
an enormous main building and a wing. Pressed brick and 
stone facings make the building look very handsome. A 
fine vestibule and massive gates lead to a roomy stair-house. 
Pillars of solid sandstone and a broad marble staircase, fine- 
ly carved gates and doors, wrought-iron railings and par- 
titions of exquisite workmanship, stained-glass windows, 
fresco-paintings, and heavy cornices of immaculate white- 
ness inside, make the school a thing of beauty and a joy for- 
ever. The school-rooms are small as compared with what I 
consider the proper size of a school-room. 

The practice department of the Augusta Seminary is a 
complete common school of nine grades (nine school years), 
with several parallel classes, in none of which are found 
more than twenty pupils, and the seminary proper has a 
course of three years. The class-rooms for all these classes 



NORMAL SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES. 151 

are on the first and second floors. On the second is also 
found the hall for physics and chemistry, with amphitheat- 
rically arranged seats, the library, the school museum, the 
office of the rector, and the conference-room of the faculty. 
On the third floor is the art-room and also the " aula " or 
session hall. This is the most splendid school-room I have 
seen in twenty-five years. Think of frescoed walls, of a ceil- 
ing of carved oak-wood, of stained-glass windows, of marble 
facings and an inlaid floor, a grand organ and commodious 
settees ! 

The marble stairs and mosaic floors of the corridors are 
protected by a strip of linoleum, and the cleanliness in this 
school reminds the visitor of fairy tales. Not a speck of 
dust anywhere — a fine testimonial to the efficiency of the 
janitor. The visitor, accustomed to criminal negligence and 
dirt found in so many German schools, feels inclined to step 
softly here. The system of ventilation and warming is so 
perfect that no vitiated air is noticeable after several hours. 
They have steam-heating and automatic ventilation happily 
combined. O, happy children who can spend their youth 
in such a school ! 

B. The Practice Department. — Having expressed my de- 
sire to see the young ladies of the senior class teach, I was 
conducted through the eight rooms of the four lower grades, 
where I heard lessons in primary arithmetic. 

The course I saw in actual operation was : First half- 
year, operations in addition and subtraction of numbers be- 
tween 1 and 10 and counting to 100 ; only oral work. Sec- 
ond half-year, all the four fundamental rules applied to 
numbers between 1 and 20 ; here begins wi^tten work. First 
half of second year, all the operations with whole numbers 
between 1 and 100, counting to 1,000. Second half of second 
year, same with whole numbers and simple fractions; also 
some denominate numbers. In this, the beginning of the 
second half of the second year, I heard problems solved, such 
as " Sixteen thirds, how many whole ones and thirds ? " The 
answer came instantly, " Five whole ones and one third." 



152 BEKLIX. 

Fractions were also "written by these cliildren, wlio 
handled them " with ease and elegance," as though they of- 
fered no difficulties whatever. At the close of the second 
year the children must have mastered the multiplication- 
table, and they were just at work with the tables of eight 
and nine, which they recited in this wise : 

(a) 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80. 

(b) 80, 72, 64, 56, 48, 40, 32, 24, 16, 8. 

(c) 1x8= 8, 2 X 8 = 16, 3 X 8 = 24, etc. 

(d) 10 X 8 = 80, 9 X 8 = 72, 8 X 8 = 64, etc. 

This recital backward and forward made the pupils very 
dexterous in the use of the tables. 

The third school year completes multiplication and di- 
vision with large numbers, and the fourth adds denominate 
numbers and a more thorough treatment of fractions. In 
the third year it was where I found such problems as " Find 
one sixth of 68, one eighth of 91, one seventh of 86," etc., 
solved very quickly. All this may seem to many of my 
readers like a tale from fairy-land. Even I who had claimed 
that more could be done in our schools if the fundamental 
rules were treated from the beginning— even I was dum- 
founded when I saw the chapter of fractions completed in 
the A Primary (or the fourth school year) ; but, when I con- 
sidered the material these teachers worked with, I fell back 
into my nil admirari. The pu]3ils were children who came 
from very refined homes, the so-called " Geheimraths -Vier- 
tel," and spoke almost faultless German. The Sisyphus 
work of correcting their mother-tongue or dialect did not re- 
tard the teachers in their work. 

In this school I found a very simple and useful apparatus 
for illustrating the combinations in arithmetic between 1 
and 100. It consists of a small blackboard two feet square 
into which small smooth holes are bored. Into these holes 
white ivory buttons were inserted, such as shown in the cut. 
These buttons are easily removed and replaced, and can be 
handled by the pupils. (See Fig. 164.) 




NORMAL SCHOOL FOR YOUXG LADIES. 153 

The so-called Russian numeral frame also is greatly im- 
proved in this school. On both sides of the frame is a strip 
of black board, behind which 
the balls that are not used 
in an operation are hidden. 

From the second half of 
the first year a series of 
blank books is used in arith- 
metic, the leaves of which 
are covered with a net of 
lines intersecting each other 
at right angles. The work 
entered upon these images 
was remarkably neat and 
very correct. ^^^- ^^^■ 

The students were well trained in teaching, I inquired 
how that was accomplished. " Simply by thorough theoretic 
preparation and by giving them much free elbow-room — 
that is, allowing them to remain in charge of a room for 
several weeks. After the charm of novelty is worn off, they 
are visited by their schoolmates and by the practice teacher, 
and then their work is criticised," was the answer. 

C. The Normal School-Work . — "What preparation do 
you require of these students before you admit them to the 
normal school (or seminary) ? " " The results of a higher 
young ladies' school, which has a course of nine years. 
They may get that education anywhere, or privately, or in 
our Augusta Practice School ; in fact, wherever they please. 
But we admit none except those who pass the examination 
for admission." 

For once my customary luck forsook me in this school. 
The rector, Mr. Supprian, well known in German educa- 
tional circles as author of popular text-books and readers, 
and a good speaker, was ill and off on a furlough; but he 
was well represented by other men of the faculty. One of 
these gentlemen gave a lesson to the students of the senior 
class on the history of methods of teaching reading, which 



15i BERLIN. 

lesson I wish all those American teachers had heard who 
are now killing rational teaching" in the bud by insisting 
upon the pure, unadulterated word-method. 

The students were very well acquainted with the en- 
tire history of the phonic method, with all its phases of de- 
velopment. Good old Ickelsamer, the first inventor of it, 
would have chuckled in his grave could he have heard the 
lesson. Stephani, the Bavarian school inspector, too, re- 
ceived his full share of the fame as reinventor and as pro- 
moter of good teaching. The whole lesson was like an Ax- 
minster carpet, rich in colors, exquisite in form and design — 
that is, full of interesting historical data, alternating with 
arguments as to the merits of this, that, and another method. 
The course in methodical treatment of sounds, open and 
closed syllables, etc., was well established. All enjoyed the 
lesson — the teacher, the young students, and, more than all, 
myself. 

There was no difficulty in finding my way from room to 
room, for in the corridors could be seen on every door what 
class was engaged in the room, and the daily programme 
was suspended under glass outside, so that one need not en- 
ter the room to inquire what was going on inside. This 
seemed to me so useful a thing that I resolved to mention it. 

Well, I found my way to the art hall, in which drawing 
was taught. It was a magnificent room, fully sixty feet 
long by thirty wide. High windows with north light made 
this room especially fit for the purpose. I will not go into 
details, but only mention an idea I gathered here. The stu- 
dents, about forty in number, represented the tenth school 
year or the first in the normal school. Part of the lesson 
was devoted to a class exercise in drawing from solids, the 
same that I have described before. When that was con- 
cluded, the teacher ordered the students to turn to their 
individual drawings. Some drew from plaster casts, some 
from relief ornaments, some from plain wooden geometrical 
bodies, some even turned to plain copying and learning to 
shade with the stub. 



NORMAL SCHOOL FOR YOUXG LADIES. 155 

I inquired after the cause of this variety. The answer 
was characteristic and well worth recording : " The gifts of 
nature, such as the sense of form, or the musical ear, or the 
eye for color, the skill in working out forms by means of 
modeling — in fine, all those talents which may, perhaps, be 
uniformly developed when the millennium approaches — are 
not, at the close of our nineteenth century, as yet the undis- 
puted common property of everybody. Much variety is still 
noticeable. Some human beings are far more gifted than 
others in music and in the art of representing form on the 
flat surface. Now, it would retard the progress of many of 
these young ladies to keep them back in order to keep step 
with their less gifted sisters. 

" So, you see, I divide all my lessons by first giving class- 
instruction in the course in drawing they will be called 
upon to give to little children after some years ; but when 
that part of the lesson is finished I give each student wide 
elbow-room to turn to her favorite pursuit in art. This is 
never without the most gratifying results, as you may see 
by going through the aisles. You will have noticed that I 
tied the students down to a rigid performance of duty so far 
as the course prescribed is involved ; after that I say, let them 
have the liberty to work out what accomplishment Mother 
Nature has given them." 

This was common sense, decidedly. That it was, besides, 
obedience to the pedagogical maxim, " Individualize ! " did 
not decrease the value of the common sense one iota. 

Daring a lesson in physiology sketches of the circulatory 
system were drawn on the board, and a very forcible dis- 
tinction was made between sketch or schematic illustrations 
and perspective copies from nature. I append a few sam- 
ples, which will illustrate the distinction. (See Figs. 165, 166.) 

Of course, the heart was there in natura also — that is, a 
perfect preparation of papier-mache. 

The last lesson I heard was a failure, because it was a 
lecture. Lectures are out of place in a young ladies' school. 
The professor was a very learned man, but a poor teacher. 



156 



BERLIX. 



His subject was the history of gymnastics. The young* 
ladies began to seek diversion in whispering, giggling, and 
writing, while the worthy old man talked louder and louder 





Figs. 165, 1G6. 



to overcome the increasing noise. The spectacle became so 
unpleasant that I preferred to leave. This one unpleasant 
experience could not, however, mar the deep impression I 
received during the other lessons. I had spent a day most 
profitably, as I hope to have proved in this chapter. 

One word more: English and French are taught here, 
and taught well, I assure my readers. Only, the English 
th was a stumbling-block to some of the pupils, and will 
perhaps always remain so, as the German vowel ue (it) is to 
Americans and Englishmen. 

11. How NOT TO TEACH. 

One day I was on my way to a school in the outskirts of 
Berlin, when, riding on the tramway, I espied the sign, 
" Royal Teachers' Seminary." On the previous day I had 
inspected a similar institution for young ladies, and the de- 
sire arose to see this one, evidently a normal school for 
young men. A comparison, I thought, would be very in- 



HOW NOT TO TEACH. 157 

structive. I acted upon the impulse and entered the build- 
ing". The rector received me kindly and handed me over to 
the next in command, because he himself had to leave the 
building to conduct an examination in another part of the 
city. This teacher was engaged in giving a lesson in church 
history. I thought this a very good beginning, and was 
about to pat myself on the back for my luck, metaiDhorically 
speaking, when, lo ! I abruptly paused in my self -congratu- 
lation, for the teacher was a scold ! 

He was a massive man, a strong man, a man who exer- 
cised a power of command which might have been better 
fitted for military exercise than for the school-room. He 
was utterly void of tact, and trampled upon the children's 
dignity as though his massive foot stepped upon pebbles. 
He made his importance felt so severely that he confused 
his pupils. He intimidated them by his glance, by his mode 
of questioning, and his seemingly compassionate smiles, 
which seemed to imply, " I know you can't grasp this, but 
I'll ask you, nevertheless, to make you feel your utter worth- 
lessness." His reign was a reign of terror. 

No answer was left without severe criticism, and every 
time he got through with a boy, after severely squeezing 
him (metaphorically speaking), and ridiculing him when oc- 
casion offered, I saw the boy take his seat with a woe-begone 
countenance that reminded me of Lady Jane in " Patience," 
when she sighs, " Crushed again ! " When the substance of 
the answer was correct, the teacher found fault with its form. 
When the form was correct, but the answer did not fully 
cover the subject asked for, or when the boy, in his anguish, 
tried to branch out and reach over as much ground as he 
could, to satisfy the teacher, sarcastic remarks followed, 
which were positively ugly. The boys, on an average about 
fourteen or fifteen years old, resembled so many sheep in a 
thunder-storm. 

But mind well, my patient reader, the teacher was not 
coarse ; not a nickname, not a word escaped him which might 
have been interpreted as a direct insult. But his manner of 



158 BERLIN. 

applying reproof was so icy, so penetrating, so chilling, 
and the reproof was given for such trifling things, that it 
took my breath away. There was not a word of commen- 
dation, not a look of approval during the whole lesson, not 
one friendly, helpful glance — it appeared as though the 
teacher considered it beneath himself to waste such things 
on a gang of criminals. I did not sketch the lesson. My 
attention was entirely absorbed in studying how not to 
teach. 

It will ever remain true that we are aj)t to copy our own 
teachers in our mode of teaching, and therefore the best 
teachers and educators are barely good enough as normal- 
school teachers. This lesson chilled me through and 
through, and I left the building. From ether teachers 
upon very cautious and veiled inquiry, I heard that the one 
I had listened to was an exception ; but I can not help pon- 
dering about the anomaly that a man of his caliber should 
teach the religion of love, Christianity. He certainly acted 
like a veritable Peter Arbus in very transparent disguise. 
I am happy to say I did not find another specimen of a cruel 
scold like this one during all my visits in the schools of 
Berlin or elsewhere, but I insert this description to point 
out a glaring contrast. 

12. "Naturkunde" — Knowledge of Nature. 

" The world do move," so the President of the Lime-Kiln 
Club says, not to mention a more illustrious authority for 
that expression. I was reminded of it when I saw here, in 
Germany, the girls in the communal, or people's school, 
study physics; here, where the people cling stubbornly to 
the prejudice that women need not, nay, must not, rise to 
the lofty realms of thought in science and art, that their 
sphere precludes scientific pursuits, etc. (I will not repeat 
the threadbare argument which American women have so 
successfully refuted by ocular evidence.) Yes, "she does 
move," thought I, when listening to a lesson in physics in 
a girls' school in Berlin, in a class of the eighth school year. 



"NATURKUXDE"— KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE. I59 

Electricity was the subject, and the method pursued by the 
teacher so rational that I resolved to sketch it. 

The school was well provided with apparatus. A little 
ball of elder pith, suspended by a linen thread from a brass 
holder ; another suspended by a silk thread ; a gutta-percha 
rod rubbed with a woolen cloth; a glass rod rubbed with a 
silk cloth — were the first objects viewed and used in experi- 
menting. 

After each part of the apparatus was well understood, 
the teacher took the gutta-percha rod, rubbed it, and ap- 
proached the little ball on a silk thread without touching 
it ; after that, the one on a linen thread. The girls put in 
words their observations, by simply stating the facts ob- 
served. Then the teacher took the glass rod, rubbed it, ap- 
proached the balls, one after another, and again the girls 
simply but correctly stated what they had observed. The 
little balls acted very differently. So far, in short steps, the 
lesson had progressed, when some of the girls were about to 
jump at conclusions. But the teacher cautioned them not 
to do so, but await the results of further experiments. 

Again he rubbed rod No. 1, and this time touched the 
little balls. The results observed made those girls who had 
worn a victorious smile on their faces, as though they had dis- 
covered the reason of the ball's action, lean back with knitted 
brows. The observations were again clearly stated. Now 
the rod No. 2 was used in a similar manner, and the opposite 
results were attained. Then all the eight different phenom- 
ena were once more repeated in quick succession, and the 
teacher summarized them, and after that " submitted the case 
to the jury." 

An insignificant-looking specimen of homo sapiens fe- 
minini generis^ but with a pair of eyes that seemed to be 
able to look outwardly and inwardly, then said : " The fact 
that the same rod acts differently upon the two balls can only 
be explained by the difference of connection between the 
balls and the holder. In other words, the electricity issuing 
from the rods, and seeking its way through the balls to the 
12 



IGO BERLIN. 

brass holder, finds a conductor in one of the strings and a 
non-conductor in the other thread. Hence the opposite ac- 
tions of the balls,'" 

Space forbids to go into further details, save to say that 
the fact of positive and negative electricity, also that elec- 
tricity acts on the surface, not inside of bodies, and other 
facts, were well established at the close of the lesson. I must 
not forget to state that the teacher showed great presence of 
mind when at one stage of the lesson an experiment failed, 
to wit, one of the balls remained indifferent instead of being 
attracted. He candidly stated that he was nonplused, and 
proceeded to examine the apparatus. Seeing the brass rod of 
the holder covered with a thick coat of dust, he quickly pol- 
ished it, and tried the experiment again, this time success- 
fully. A few remarks concerning the evil influence of dust 
impressed themselves upon the girls' memories. The class 
was large, but all the pupils participated and were frequently 
called to repeat statements of observations or experiments 
made before their eyes. 

I inquired what difference, if any, the teacher noticed in 
teaching science to girls and to boys. The answer was : '' The 
girls are much quicker in coming to conclusions than the 
boys. They almost jump at them, and do not sufficiently 
investigate facts. The boys arrive more slowly at conclu- 
sions; they insist upon trying various experiments before 
they form a judgment. Another very decided difference is, 
that girls forget scientific facts sooner than boys. It seems 
as though the boys' power of retention is greater. And a 
third (to me the most vital and significant) difference is found 
in the fact that it is difficult to retain the girls' attention 
long. They get tired much too soon. While the boys can 
hold out a solid hour in physics without getting mentally 
exhausted, I am obliged to branch off into some different 
subject to offer the girls a distraction from the severe strain 
of continuous thought." 

I offer these statements as they were given to me. Since 
they come from a highly successful teacher, one who has 



A LESSOX IN SINGING. 161 

been rector of both a boys' and a girls' school for many 
years, his words ought to have some weight. 

13. A Lesson in Singing. 

A lesson in vocal music that I heard in one of the commu- 
nal schools of Berlin very vividly impressed itself upon my 
mind. During the recess between two lessons, while prome- 
nading with the rector in the corridor, I made the acquaint- 
ance of a young man of great promise. I took a liking to 
him, and followed him into the class-room, where at the 
stroke of the bell two classes of girls filed in to take a sing- 
ing-lesson. The teacher offered me the choice between 
practicing songs that had been studied, and the study of a 
new song. I chose the latter offer, and was well rewarded, 
for what I heard was a model lesson. The rector selected a 
song from a book not in the hands of the pupils — a song 
which was strange to the x)upils and strange to me. 

As quickly as possible the teacher copied the soprano 
part on the board which was ruled for music, and had this 
part read by the whole class. The pupils read D, F sharp, 
G, A, A, A, etc., then sang the notes thus. The length of 
the notes was then marked, and the pupils beat time. Now 
the words were substituted, and suitable places for breathing 
were marked. Again a halt was made, and signs of expres- 
sion were called for where the pupils thought fit to place 
them. Thus the whole melody was treated. All the pupils 
sang the melody, and the teacher, being rather a fine violin- 
ist without being a professional musician, played the second 
or alto part, thus accustoming the ear of his pupils to the 
harmony. 

Now the alto part was written, and the class called upon 
to practice a few intervals, such as from the second to the 
fifth tone of the scale, etc. When these preliminary exercises 
were finished, the part was sung without the leading melody. 
Though the part was not without difficult passages, the class 
sang through it bravely. Now it was repeated, and the 
violin took up the melody. This made the alto singing 



1G2 BERLIN. 

easier. Tlie pupils were seated in three groups — soprano, 
alto, and second alto. (Perhaps we might call them upper 
and lower soprano and alto.) 

Now the order came for the soprano voices to sing their 
part and the alto voices theirs, while the violin played the 
third part. It was interesting to see the girls who were to 
sing the third part attend closely to catch the run of their 
part which was not written yet. This was written last, it was 
easy, and offered no difficult intervals. The signs of expres- 
sion had to be the same in all three parts ; and after the third 
part had been read and tried aloud, the three parts were sung 
together. The song was rendered charmingly and without 
the least error. Time of lesson, thirty-five minutes. 

Many questions on the theory of music, on the length of 
the notes, on signs of expression, on time, on signature, on 
keys, etc., now followed, and I was highly pleased with the 
results, for the pupils revealed considerable familiarity with 
written music. The age of the pupils was twelve to thirteen 
years, the class being on a level with our intermediate or 
grammar grade. At the close of the hour a few songs 
previously learned were sung. It was three-part music 
throughout, and well rendered. The expression was fine, 
the harmony exquisite, and it seemed as though the pupils 
vied with the teacher in producing something that was 
worth hearing. What pleased my rather fastidious musical 
ear were the beautiful crescendos and diminuendos; the 
voices swelled so evenly and gradually from the gentlest 
piano to a strong forte, and again decreased to tnezzoforte 
or pianissimo, that I could have listened all day. What 
a source of musical wealth their school must be to these chil- 
dren ! And how they hung on the lips of their teacher ! 

14. A Lesson in Zoology. 

It was in the same school that I heard a lesson in " de- 
scription of nature " (not to call it zoology), which was very 
pleasing. I will endeavor to give the gist of it. It proved 
to me beyond controversy that, while in English and Ameri- 



A LESSON IN ZOOLOGY. Xg3 

can schools much valuable time is spent in learning the 
fabric of the garment of thought, the English language 
(spelling, grammar, etc.), these German children get more 
substance of thought. While we, perhaps driven by the 
nature of our language, are making our pupils think about 
the language, the German children think in their language. 
They gain more knowledge, useful, practical knowledge in 
physics, physiology, hygiene, natural history, history of 
man, geography, etc., than we can offer our pupils. In 
sketching the lesson I must confine myself to the essentials 
as I noted them down. Subject, "The Whale." A large 
picture of a whale was placed before the class. 

After a description that was partly deduced from previous 
knowledge and from the picture before the class, the teacher 
entered upon a more instructive part of the lesson by pro- 
posing, where occasion oflPered, questions about cause and 
effect. 

" How does it come so," he asked, " that the animal emits 
vapor through its nostrils, and not streams of water ? " 

" What is the most vital difference between the tail of 
the whale and that of fishes ? " The answer, that "its posi- 
tion is horizontal instead of vertical," led to the other ques- 
tion : 

" Have we an example of horizontal rudders on our boats 
or skiffs ? " The boys all agreed that a boat's rudder must be 
vertical. Then the question came, " Who knows what is 
meant by sculling a skiff or canoe ? " Up went two hands 
of boys, who described the use of an oar both as propeller 
and rudder. 

The teeth of the whale, especially their fringe, puzzled the 
children. They saw that, if their own teeth were as soft as 
felt on the edges, they could not last. It was soon decided 
that the animal does not use its teeth to bite with, but as a 
sieve. The teacher then explained — what could not well 
be seen on the picture — that the animal turns these " teeth- 
bones " on their axes after preparing to swallow. He 
showed this by turning* three rulers, which were first held 



164 



BERLIN. 



Fig. lOr. 



with the edges toward the class, so that the broad sides 
were seen. Thus the teacher taught objectively without 
ostentation. He seemed to dis- 
cover means for appealing to the 
senses where others could not use 
anything but the word of mouth. 
A simple gesture of his often suf- 
ficed to make things clear. 

When the whaling or whale- 
hunting was described, the ques- 
I tion, " Why are the whalers sure 

of catching their prey, if a single 
harpoon has struck ? " led to a vi- 
tal difference between whale and fish, namely, the organ of 
respiration. The existence of parasites on the skin of the 
whale led to the question why the animal permits them to 
grow and lodge in his skin. This was a poser. At last a 
pupil said : ''I can understand that monkeys can pick off 
their parasites ; that birds can free themselves of them by 
means of their beaks ; that a buffalo or a dog can rub him- 
self on the bark of a tree or other suitable object ; but I fail 
to see what the unwieldy whale should do, having neither 
hands nor beak to pick off his parasites, nor any hard sub- 
stance in the sea on which he might rub himself." 

Thus the lesson went on — a lesson which furnished 
knowledge and awakened thought. It wound up with a 
neat description of the animars mode of life, thus : 

The home of the whale is in the northern seas, where they 
are free of ice. Where the ocean offers food in abundance 
they can be found in great numbers like herds of cattle. 
Now they dive to considerable depths, and there move in 
quiet majesty, like huge ship-hulls, and soon after appear on 
the surface, " sailing " with the velocity of steamers. Now 
they play like merry giants' children, rear like horses or 
make somersaults and stretch their tails out of the water, or 
whip the water with their tails till the surface is covered 
all around them with white foam, and again float as though 



A MOST REFRESHING SIGHT. 165 

dead on tlie surface, and permit water-birds to alight on 
them. 

It was a fruitful lesson— fruitful in many ways to the 
pupils. The harvest of language was rich, the exercise of 
judgment in discovering the why and wherefore of things 
very lively. Altogether the lesson was a proof of the fact 
that a good teacher is not made but born. 

15. A Most Refreshing Sight. 

Berlin is a big city, no doubt my readers know that ; but 
its size became very obvious to me one day, when I attended 
a meeting of the teachers of Section III. Berlin is divided 
into several (I believe, seven) school sections, each of which 
has a section superintendent, called inspector, while the gen- 
eral superintendent, called Schulrath, is the general-in-chief . 
The rectors, associate and assistant teachers of this section 
— some two to three hundred in number — had a conference 
in the session-room of the one hundred and seventh commu- 
nal school. The hall was magnificent, lofty, spacious, well 
warmed and ventilated, and exquisitely decorated with fresco, 
paintings, marble and plaster busts, and carved wood. It 
was very obvious that I was in the capital of the German 
Empire, in a city which is known for its inexhaustible col- 
lections of art. An art-loving community like that of Berlin 
can not leave the schools of the children unadorned, and if 
we consider that many children attending the lower schools 
never see a beautiful room — unless it be in school — it seems 
like investing money well to decorate the school-rooms. 
Esthetic education is not the result of teaching, but of 
impressions. 

The hundreds of teachers present on this occasion (I am 
sorry to say there were no women among them) were a fine 
body of men, indeed, I rarely, if ever, saw so many fine heads 
assembled as I did here. I had an opportunity to see the 
Reichstag (German Congress) assembled a few days after- 
ward, and I was somewhat disappointed. Venerable as 
many of its members were, I could not help seeing that as 



IQQ BERLIN. 

far as intelligence, ready wit, oratory, and parliamentary 
skill were concerned, the teachers of Section III surpassed 
the members of the Reichstag. The inspector of this section 
took the chair, and conducted the discussion in a very com- 
mendable way. 

The subject of the day was Efforts in reforming Instruc- 
tion in Natural History. And again, as I had noticed in 
Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia, the battle raged about Her- 
bart pro and contra. Though the name Herbart was not 
once mentioned, it was obvious to me that the views of the 
two authorities — Pestalozzi and Herbart— were at the bottom 
of the whole commotion. It may seem presumptuous to 
render in English the theses which were discussed, but, since 
they oifer in synopsis the course of the whole discussion, I 
will give them. So here are the theses : 

I. In the study commonly called natural history our ob- 
ject should be to lead the pupils to a better comprehension 
of life in nature. 

II. The present status of science should be considered, in 
which the system is not the main point, but the train of 
changes which culminated in the present artificial systems 
of classification. It can not be urged too strongly that we 
must not go beyond the pupil's faculty of comprehension. 

III. Direct observation of life in nature, both in botany 
and zoology, must take the place of description of absent ob- 
jects. To this end class-excursions into the country should 
be arranged, work in the school-garden and lessons in ob- 
servation alternate with excursions. 

IV. It is not sufficient to have the physiological organs 
of natural objects named. Of greater importance is the re- 
lation between the organs and their functions. 

V. In order to get a clear insight into the life and growth 
of plants and animals, it is necessary to observe and discuss 
their characteristic momenta. Dead specimens may afford 
opportunities for description and study of forms, but they 
offer no chance for seeing the organs in action. 

VI. The influence which the surroundings have upon 



A MOST REFRESHING SIGHT. 1^7 

the peculiar development of the object in life should be em- 
phasized so far as the children can comprehend it. This can 
best be studied during* excursions. 

VII. Instruction in natural history has also a practical 
object, to wit, to prove the importance of natural objects to 
man in commerce, in industry, or as food and ornament. 
This should be considered in the selection of objects for study. 

VIII. In higher instruction this elementary observation 
of forms, organs, and their functions should terminate in 
systematic grouping and the observation of phenomena in 
formulating biological laws. 

The young teacher who was the chief speaker read a 
paper first in which he defended these theses. He opened 
the discussion formally. For three hours opinions, couched 
in short, five-minute speeches, followed each other, and the 
chairman selected the speakers always with a view toward 
fairly dividing the time between the pro and contra sides. 

The whole discussion was based upon a work of recent 
publication called " The Village Pond " (by Fr. Junge, pub- 
lished by Lipsius & Fischer in Kiel). Humboldt once said, 
" Nature is reflected in every corner," and the village pond 
was considered by the author the most convenient corner to 
study nature. Botany, zoology, and mineralogy are studied 
while studying the phenomena observable in and about that 
pond. It is a wonderful book, quite in harmony with the 
teaching of Herbart — a book which has created a sensation 
among the teachers of Germany such as can only be com- 
pared to the sensation created by Pestalozzi's " Wie Gertrude 
ihre Kinder lehrt." If I had the time at present I should 
translate the book for my American colleagues ; but I ap- 
prehend that when I return home to settle down again I 
shall find it on the market in America in English garb. It 
is altogether a sensible book, one which is destined to mark 
an epoch in science-teaching. 

A few more remarks about the discussion. In all the 
many addresses and impromptu speeches of the day there 
was not an unpleasant word said directed at any one in par- 



168 BERLIN. 

ticular, not a breath of suspicion as to the motives of any 
speaker, nor an allusion which might in any way have been 
interpreted as containing" a sting. All criticism (and there 
was much of it, and severe criticism to boot) hit the system 
or the method in vogue, never the person. All evidences 
given in support of ideas and opinions were well selected 
from personal experiences, and when at last a committee 
was appointed to work out a plan for applying the princi- 
ples and practice of Junge in city schools, the work of the 
day left no bitter feeling — not often the case after a heated 
debate. No little of the success of the day was owing to the 
masterly directive action of the chairman, who was what 
every presiding officer should be — a true moderator, not a 
despot. 

I had had the impression that parliamentary rules were 
nowhei^e better understood and applied than in our land of 
parliamentary government ; but I have had several occa- 
sions to modify my judgment concerning that point. The 
presiding officers of several meetings I attended had a knack 
of disentangling conflicting questions, laying motions before 
the assemblies, and a simplicity in deciding and taking votes, 
which fairly astonished me and would have graced a legis- 
lative body in America. Time was when parliamentary 
usage was very rarely found in Germany ; but the granting 
of universal suffrage has set into activity latent parliament- 
ary talents which are not to be despised. 

When the conference closed we repaired to a fashionable 
restaurant, where a commodious hall was reserved for us for 
a banquet. Think of this body of men on a Saturday even- 
ing, after a heated debate, peacefully enjoying themselves 
with songs, toasts, and something for the inner man! A 
chorus of select voices rendered fine vocal music. The words 
of the songs that were to be sung by the whole assembly 
were passed around on printed slips. They had been com- 
posed " especially for the occasion," and were full of happy 
allusions to the events of the day. The toasts were good, and 
joy reigned supreme till the small hours. 



A DISTINCTION WITH A BIG DIFFERENCE. I(j9 

16. A Distinction with a Big Difference. 

Generally I prefer to visit the so-called people's schools 
here in Germany, because it is more probable that in them I 
can pick up suggestions of value to our American common 
schools. The gymnasiums and other secondary schools par- 
take more of the nature of colleges and special schools. The 
instruction offered in them is more scientific, the courses of 
study much more rigid, and the schools as such too exclu- 
sive to suit my taste. Still, for the sake of proper compari- 
son, I go to see higher schools in every city in which I stay 
longer than a day or two. 

The general impression I received in these higher schools 
is not a very favorable one. I find much more inferior 
teaching in them than in the common schools ; but let me 
not be misunderstood. The teaching would be very good 
for mature minds who can and are willing to follow the 
lecturing teacher with undivided attention. The instruc- 
tion, be it demonstrative or not, is almost always addressed 
to the best and brightest pupils. Weaker ones are merely 
dragged along and go to the wall when the annual reckon- 
ing takes place. 

This is one of the causes why the higher schools have the 
dropsy in the lowest and the consumption in the highest 
grades. To see one or two graduates in a school of six or 
eight grades (from the tenth to the nineteenth year of age), 
with an enrollment of four to five hundred, is not a rare 
case at all. It does not seem the object of the faculty to do 
the greatest good to the greatest number, but to prepare a 
selected few for the next higher grades and suffer the re- 
mainder to stay and " try again " or drop out of school. No- 
where is Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest more 
forcibly illustrated than in German secondary schools. I 
am aware that this is very harsh criticism, but it is based 
upon " ocular inspection " and several private conversations 
with noted school-men, who agree with me both as to the 
fact and its causes. 



170 BERLIN. 

They are not reticent about this weakness of the system, 
but speak without reserve. One gentleman of national rep- 
utation said, when I mentioned this anomaly : " It is only 
too true that the improvement in didactic practice in the 
higher schools does not keep step with that of the lower 
schools. The state requires the teachers of the lower schools 
to have attended a normal school, while those of the second- 
ary schools are raw university men who may have learned 
much but do not know how to teach. 

" A norm^al school graduate may not know so much of 
the sciences of mathematics, physics, chemistry, philology, 
archaeology, history, etc., but he knows how to apply what 
he did learn, and, what is of still greater value, he has 
learned by actual practice in the school-room how to disci- 
pline and educate, not merely how to teach. Many a young 
university man addresses his immature pupils as though 
they were college students. He can not stoop to their level 
of comprehension, and it is a comparatively small num- 
ber of these candidates who ever get to be good teachers. 
Do you know, I invariably send my young university men 
to some renowned teacher in the people's school that they 
may observe how to teach methodically before I intrust a 
class to their care ? " 

Now, much of what this good man said is applicable to 
American college graduates, I thought. Here in Germany 
it is fashionable to send the boys to a secondary school 
instead of allowing them to mix with "the rabble." So 
long as social distinctions are as high here as they are, it 
will be considered a privilege to attend a gymnasium, or a 
Realschule, or a Biirger Schule, and, to be sure, it is a dis- 
tinction with a big difference. 

Before I close this criticism, I wish to have it distinctly 
understood that I do not mean to say there are no good, ex- 
cellent teachers in the secondary schools. I am far from 
saying that, for I have witnessed lessons in such schools that 
were model lessons in every way ; but I mean to say the 
good teachers are fewer in number there absolutely and rela- 



A RARE CASE. 171 

tively than in the people's schools. I mean to emphasize 
also that there is too much waste of good material and the 
number of graduates in disproportion to the number of pu- 
pils entering secondary schools. 

Furthermore, I maintain it to be a lamentable error to 
allow the pupils to begin a number of higher studies and 
languages without ever being able to make any headway in 
them when they could obtain a well-rounded elementary 
education in the people's school which would fit them for 
life much better than that half-and-half education which 
oflPers a little of everything and nothing of anything. The 
secondary schools in Germany are not so much educational 
institutions as they are seats of learning. Therein lies the 
distinction and the difference. 

17. A Eare Case. 

In one of the communal schools of Berlin I confided to 
the rector that it was so difficult to make the teachers under- 
stand that I had not come to inspect the school with a view 
toward ascertaining what the pupils Jcneiv, but hoiv the 
teachers taught. He was not astonished, and said : " We 
rarely see visitors in our school. When an inspector or 
school councilor comes, he is usually bent upon examining 
into results." He suggested that he had several teachers 
whom he could place at my disposal. He introduced me to 
one of them who happened to enter Ihe office at that mo- 
ment. One glance at him convinced me of his genius. The 
rector asked him : " Would you kindly take a class in geog- 
raphy instead of Mr. So-and-so on the spur of the moment ? '' 
" Certainly," was the answer. " What subject shall I take ? " 
"The class is studying the map of Asia." "Very well." 
" Or would you mind taking my class in physics while I 
take the other class ? " " With pleasure. What is the class 
studying ? " " We are at the chapter of electricity." " That 
would please me very much." 

I engaged the young man in conversation during recess, 
and found he had a perfect sample card of studies on his 



172 BERLIN. 

daily programme. He taught natural history, physics, geog- 
raphy, history, grammar, gymnastics, and music, and the 
rector confided to me that he taught all these branches well. 
" He is a most valuable man to have in a school," said he. 
" He is obliging, always ready on the spur of the moment to 
jump into the breach, a perfect mine of information, and a 
most accomplished methodician. Every pupil in the school 
likes him. Every teacher acknowledges his superiority. 
Young as he is, he has already passed the examination for a 
rectorship, and I am seriously afraid I shall lose him, for 
the authorities will soon appoint him to a rectorship. What 
a power he might be in a secondary school ! But, then, that 
is out of the question, he being only — a normal graduate. 
Despite his profound learning he has something child-like 
about him. He can play with the boys in the yard, and 
laugh and romp with them to their hearts' content, yet in 
the class-room he is a strict disciplinarian. He much resem- 
bles the iron hand under a velvet glove. In all my thirty 
years of experience I have never discovered so unmistakable 
a born teacher as he is." 

Well, I saw that teacher engaged in several lessons and 
OAve him many an inspiration. 

18. "Tout comme chez nous." 

Cheating in examination. The " Berlin Gazette " recent- 
ly published an account of an attempt at circumnavigating 
the dangers of a final examination which deserves to be re- 
printed in America. A paper one day contained the inno- 
cent advertisement : 

" Wanted, a young man who either has passed the final 
examination in a gymnasium or is about to go through the 
ordeal. Wanted for an innocent purpose. Employment 
for two or three weeks. Salary, seven hundred marks. Ap- 
plications, accompanied by a ' curriculum vitm' to be sent 
to this office addressed to A. P., No. 101." 

A student of the university in Berlin who thought the 
advertiser needed coaching to get ready for his examination, 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL HORIZON. I73 

applied and received an answer of the following purport : " A 
certain aristocratic young gentleman who intends to enter 
the army as officer is required to pass the final examination 
(which is a sesame for both the university and the army), 
but, having been ill for some years, is too poorly prepared, 
and desires to find a substitute who will under an assumed 
name pass the examination for him. This is done easily, no 
risk whatever." 

In order to catch this cheat, the student entered upon his 
plan, but notified the public prosecutor, who caused the 
arrest of the young aristocrat after sufficient proofs were 
collected. 

Will my readers have a moral ? It is this : This one case 
has made a profound sensation upon the people of Ger- 
many. They ask with holy horror how it is possible to con- 
ceive of such an infernal idea, and clamor for protection to 
honest students by prohibiting the admission of any one to 
the final examination in a high-school who has not been a 
student in that school for a year at least. The Germans do 
not hastily legislate, but, when they do, their laws go straight 
to the root of evil. 

19. Concentric Extension of the Geographical 
Horizon. 

It is always attended with a feeling of satisfaction when 
one observes an idea consistently carried through the differ- 
ent stages of the curriculum, especially if that consistency is 
in strict compliance with educational maxims and princi- 
ples. Here in Berlin a b^uly refreshing example of consist- 
ency is offered in the school-book used in the study of geog- 
raphy, which book is an atlas pure and simple, not a text- 
book. It may not be without interest to read an account of 
what that book contains, for it is got up with undeniable 
skill. The reader must kindly bear in mind that the atlas 
is made expressly for use in the elementary (or communal) 
schools of Berlin. The idea which is so consistently carried 
through in it is expressed in the above heading. 



174 



BERLIN 




Fig 118. 




. >$ 1 2. 3 A 5 Meters 

Fig. 169.— Map-Plan of the School-Room. 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL HORIZON. 175 

Page 1 contains six pictures and plans. The first (Fig. 
168) is a perspective view of the inside of a school-room, and 
side by side with it is a map-plan (Fig. 169) of that room. 
This is nothing new in America. Many American text- 
books of geography contain a similar illustration. It is here 
reproduced for no other reason than to present an unbroken 
chain of methodical links. Notice that the atlas does not 
begin with the hemispheres. The picture, with its attendant, 
the plan, represents the first circle of the pupil's geographical 
horizon, and is drawn on a scale of 1 to 100. 

Then follows a perspective view of the whole school- 
house (Fig. 170) and a map-plan of the building (Fig. 171). 
These form the second circle. Scale : 1 to 300. The bird's- 
eye view of Fig. 171 is certainly an ingenious contriv- 
ance. 

This is followed by a perspective view of a portion of a 
city and its map-plan. The school-house is again found on 
this map. (See Figs. 172 and 173.) These form the third 
circle of the pupil's horizon. Scale: 1 to 1,500. 

Page 2 contains a larger perspective view of a landscape, 
accompanied by a map-plan. The artist had to reduce this 
view to adjust it to the size of the page. The original in the 
atlas is much larger. The reader will find the same school- 
house and portion of the town represented in Figs. 170 and 
172. This forms the fourth circle. Scale: 1 to 7,500. 

Page 3. This extension of the horizon is followed on 
page 3 by a picture of an imaginary landscape which is in- 
serted for the purpose of teaching the most vital topo- 
graphical ideas. This picture also is accompanied by a 
map-plan. 

Page 4 contains a minute city plan of Berlin, which 
forms the fifth circle of the horizon. Scale : 1 to 36,000. 

Page 5 is Berlin and vicinity, the same city plan but 
much reduced in size and surrounded by the many villages, 
hamlets, etc., within a radius of twelve kilometres. This 
forms the sixth circle. Scale : 1 to 100,000. 

Page 6 is a map of the governmental district of Potsdam, 
13 




Fig. 171. 




Fig. 172. 




J^ 




Fig, 173.— aiAP-PLAN of School-House and Vicinity. 



ITS 



BERLIN. 




THE GEOGRAPHICAL HORIZOX. 



179 






pPTfF^^^^yTTlf-^WTTT^rT^S^S^^^^P 




180 BERLIN. 

in the center of which Berlin is situated, this being the sev- 
enth circle. Scale : 1 to 1,000,000. 

Page 7 is a physical map of the province of Brandenburg 
(center Berlin). Eighth circle of horizon. Scale of map: 1 
to 1,260,000. Map contains also a local map exhibiting the 
railroads entering Berlin. 

Page 5 is a political map of the same province. Scale 
the same. Local map of the city of Potsdam. 

Page 9 is a physical map of Germany. Ninth circle of 
horizon. Scale : 1 to 4,000,000. 

Page 10 is a political map of Germany. Same circle, 
same scale. Local map of the Thuringian principalities. 

Page ii is a physical map of Europe. Tenth circle of 
horizon. Scale : 1 to 15,000,000. 

Page 12 contains the political map of Europe. Same 
circle, same scale. 

Page 13 contains the map of Asia. Scale : 1 to 50,000,000. 

Page I4 contains the map of Africa. Scale : 1 to 40,000,- 
000. Local maps of the Nile-Delta, the Cape Colony, and 
Cape Town. 

Page 15 contains the map of North America. Scale 1 to 
35,000,000. 

Page 16 contains the map of South America. Same scale. 

Page 17 contains the map of Australia and Oceanica with 
local map of Victoria Land, and an illustration of the forma- 
tion of coral reefs. Scale of main map, 1 to 50,000,000. 

The foregoing five maps may be considered the eleventh 
circle. 

Page 18 is again a local map, namely, that of Palestine, 
a map which is very useful to teachers and pupils in the 
study of biblical history. 

Page 19 contains the twelfth circle of geographical hori- 
zon, namely the Eastern Hemisphere. 

Page 20. The Western Hemisphere. Scale not stated. 

Page 21 directs the pupils' look upward to the heavens. It 
contains a representation of the northern sky, with the most 
important constellations and the milky way. 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL HORIZON. 181 

Page 22^ the last one in the book, is devoted to mathe- 
matical geography. It contains illustrations of the eclipses, 
of the earth's orbit, the solar system, the phases of the moon, 
and various very useful devices of similar nature. 

The whole book costs a mark, or twenty-five cents, which 
price is a standing reproach to our publishers, who ask a 
dollar and a quarter to a dollar and a half for a book contain- 
ing on an average not any more maps than this one ; for 
the useless ballast which makes them unwieldy and induces 
ignorant teachers to make presumptuous prattlers of our 
pupils, is not worth the paper on which it is printed. 

These, then, are the contents of the elementary geography 
in use in the city of Berlin. The reader will perhaps ad- 
vance objections to this, that, or another item ; will object, 
for instance, to the picture of the quaint city (which the art- 
ist has minutely copied), as being foreign to our pupils' sur- 
roundings. I repeat, for his benefit, that the atlas is not 
made for American children, but for the children in Berlin. 
I should think it might be possible to present a series of pict- 
ures and accompanying map-plans which could be used in 
large cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. 

The reader may, perhaps, consider it somewhat of a 
strait-jacket to be tied down to such a course, one which 
will not give the precocious child a chance to look beyond 
the "board fence of the circle." To him it may be said: 
There is no objection at all for any precocious child to look 
at the next pages and ask questions about them, but the reg- 
ular, methodical course is here prescribed according to the 
principle " From the near to the remote. " If he desires to 
deviate from the course, he may skip a few pages, and return 
to them whenever he sees fit. 

But the consistency with which the principles of education 
that presuppose concenti'ic growth are carried out, deserves 
commendation. We are too often talking of principles and 
shunning to apply them. Here is a sample of that consist- 
ency which does what it preaches. Whether we like it or 
not, we may at least be just and find it praiseworthy as such. 



182 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 



CHAPTER VIII. 

halle (prussian province of saxony). 

1. The "Francke Stiftungen" in Halle. 

I MUST refer the reader to the history of education, and 
ask him to look up Francke, and to read what heroic efforts 
he made in charitable institutions. To-day — two hundred 
years after he began to look about for means to establish an 
orphan asylum — a small city looms up within the city of 
Halle, built mostly by him without governmental aid ; and, 
though he has been dead for the last century and a half, his 
work still lives and thrives, governed by almost identically 
the same rules which Francke, the man with the large heart, 
and active sympathy for the poor and needy, laid down. 
Suffice it to say that he was the most noted benefactor the 
poor in Saxony and, in fact, all Germany, ever had. He 
had no millions to bequeath, but, on the contrary, began with 
seven dollars. According to a report of 1883, issued for the 
benefit of the Emperor William, who during that year vis- 
ited the institution, it embraced then : 



1. A boys' elementary Bchool 

2. A girls' elementary school 

3. A boys' intermediate school , 

4. A girls' intermediate school 

5. A boys' preparatory school 

6. A Latin school 

7. A high school for boys 

8. A high school for girls 

9. An orphan asylum for boys 

10. An orphan asylum for girls , 

11. A boarding establishment for outside pu 

pils of the high schools 

12. Same for students of the Royal Pedago 

gium 

13. A normal school for young ladies 

14. A " Seminarium Praeceptorum " 



Founded 
in— 


No. of 
pupils 




m 1883. 


1695 


221 


1695 


225 


1695 


584 


1695 


469 


1845 


239 


1695 


775 


1835 


484 


1835 


370 


1695 


115 


1695 


16 


1697 


285 


1696 


54 


1879 


23 


1696 


12 



No. of pu- 
pils since 
beginning 



9,300 

9,500 

23,000 

15,700 

1,743 

23,257 

6,400 

2,100 

5,276 

1,501 

10,000 

4,387 

88 

4,395 



THE "FRANCKE STIFTUNGEN" IN HALLE. 183 

Connected with the institution — which, is in fact, a small 
town within a town — are several undertakings, called " the 
money-making additions," namely : 

(1) A Publishing House, founded in 1698, with an annual 
sale of 200,000 marks ; (2) a Printing House, founded in 
1701, with an annual earning of 130,000 marks ; (3) a Drug- 
Store, founded in 1698, with an annual sale of 45,000 marks ; 
(4) a Bible House, founded in 1710, with a capital of 150,000 
marks, 6,200,000 Bibles have been sent out since 1710 ; (5) an 
East India Mission, founded in 1705, with a capital of 246,- 
900 marks ; (6) the " Streit Fund," for the purpose of sup- 
porting German Protestant congregations in Pennsylvania, 
founded in 1755, with a capital of 29,900 marks. 

The entire institution embraces seventy-five acres of land, 
of which seventeen acres are covered with buildings. The 
buildings are insured against fire to the amount of one mill- 
ion and a quarter marks. 

The reader may think these statements out of place in a 
book like this. I insert them to show that a spirit which 
succeeded in erecting, independently of state aid, such a 
grand and imposing temple of charity, finds its expression 
in independent educational enterprise. In our age of asso- 
ciated charities, the original intention of gathering the or- 
phans of the realm has become too narrow. The institution 
has become the center of all efforts of reform in school edu- 
cation in Germany — an experimental colony, so to speak. 
For it is not dependent upon the state funds or taxes, and is 
therefore not governed by rules and regulations issued from 
the governmental green-table, but has its own director, who 
thinks it quite in harmony with Francke's principles and 
charitable intentions to make these schools the pioneer 
schools of Germany. 

Director Dr. Otto Frick, since Prof. Ziller's death the 
foremost leader of the Herbartian school, advocates Her- 
bart's principles and Ziller's practice, and selects his teachers 
exclusively with reference to their fitness to teach and edu- 
cate. He is not tied down by narrow courses of study and 



184: HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

regulations, nor are his tongue and pen tied by considera- 
tions of state reason or bread-and-butter interest. Conse- 
quently he is, to state the situation metaphorically, " the best- 
hated pedagogue of Prussia, a vigorous pike in a carp-pond." 

I spent several days in this " city within a city," and 
more than once sat in speechless admiration at the manner 
of teaching and the results I witnessed. Of course, I was to 
some extent, prepared for what I saw ; but when I noticed 
the absence of that rigorous discipline under which other 
schools suffer ; when I saw the children converse with 
their teachers as though speaking with a friend ; when I saw 
them working with their hands, and giving intelligible ac- 
counts of what they had seen, heard, and experienced ; when 
I noticed that they learned as though by means of play — I 
felt as though the millennium was near at hand. And again, 
when I considered that, after all, this band of teachers was in 
the most hopeless minority, that there may be an approxi- 
mation to this kind of procedure but never a perfect imita- 
tion in the vast majority of teachers in the world ; that, after 
all, this was a mere oasis in a vast desert — I seemed to feel 
the millennium recede. 

I own frankly that I felt myself very small, a mere 
mite in the presence of these men who so completely and 
willingly lost their character as teachers, as it were, and 
meant to be nothing but companions of their pupils. Yet, 
despite this apparent disappearance of the teacher, he was 
here, always suggesting movements, aiding efforts, leading 
the way, feeding the imagination, directing invisibly the 
education of the pupils under his charge. He reminded me 
of the iron hand under the velvet glove. 

It would have led me out of my way to visit all the 
grades of school that are here represented up to the univer- 
sity and beyond it. That would have necessitated a stay of 
weeks, a condition which could not be complied with. Suf- 
fice it to say, each class has its "Gesinnungs-Stoff " (matter 
appealing to the sentiment). In the higher grades of the 
elementary schools it was biblical history, in the lowest it 



CONCENTEIC INSTRUCTION ILLUSTRATED. 185 

was a collection of " Maerclien " (popular tales), such as An- 
dersen's and Grimms'. The principle of concentric circles 
in education is applied in every branch, every class, every 
school. 

I spent much time in a third grade (third from below). 
Everything done there in the day was in organic connection 
with the central topic, Robinson Crusoe. Geography was 
learned by molding maps in the sand and tracing his jour- 
ney ; by molding his island, etc. Manual work was linked 
with the pupil's intellectual efforts. They made pots like 
Eobinson, wove baskets like Robinson, etc. The composi- 
tions written on slates had Robinson's exploits for their sub- 
jects. All seemed like a natural growth. All instruction 
had a common center. Robinson Crusoe had to these chil- 
dren both a centrifugal and a centripetal power, and wielded 
them as Old Sol does his powers, unseen, unfelt, yet very 
effectively. 

2. Concentric Instruction illustrated. 

It would be tedious work to lead my readers through the 
labyrinth of conflicting interpretations of the Herbart-Ziller 
movement now stirring up the pedagogical world of Ger- 
many as a leviathan does the quiet depths of the sea. I have 
been spending my leisure hours in railroad-cars, in hotel- 
lobbies, and by the light of my faithful student's lamp in 
studying both sides of the question ; have seen lessons given 
according to the prescription of these latter-day apostles, 
have conversed with men of great experience, and young, 
ambitious, and striving teachers; have heard lectures on the 
subject — in fine, I have honestly striven to climb up to a 
point of view from which I might judge impartially. After 
several months of intense study, I believe that I am ready 
to pronounce judgment. But I will reserve it till I have 
offered my reader a few more lessons which may illustrate 
the principles. Perhaps he will then be able to form his 
own opinion. 

One thing I must note at once : We are apt to talk of a 



186 IIALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

man's method of teaching. The disciples of Herbart shun 
that word where they can consistently do so. They speak 
of this or that principle, of this or that type of instruction, 
and thus set an American schoolmaster wildly groping for 
something to hold on to in the labyrinth of conflicting opin- 
ions. One of these principles of teaching is, that each 
branch of study should have a logical and, if possible, a tan- 
gible, at any rate an organic connection with, if not all, at 
least with as many other branches of study as possible, to 
make the whole course of instruction one organic growth. 
This, it is claimed, will facilitate mental growth better, than 
by keeping the different disciplines apart. Of this principle I 
saw an illustration in print by Mr. Lehmann in Halle which 
I will give in full, omitting all explanatory remarks which 
he offers for the benefit of his readers. 

The lesson was a lesson in drawing, entitled " The Ivy- 
leaf." 

0&/ecf.— Boys, hitherto you drew leaf -forms from copies 
in print, or from forms I drew on the board for you. To- 
day the copy is wanting, and the natural leaf is given to 
you to draw from. (Each pupil has an ivy-leaf on his desk.) 
From what plant are the leaves taken ? If our former draw- 
ing was called drawing from copies, what may we call this 
kind ? If our object were merely to learn to draw the form 
of the ivy-leaf, I should have given you printed copies ; but 
we must learn something besides drawing. You know that 
the leaves of different plants show in their outlines distinct 
geometrical figures or forms. Mention a few. Now, what 
geometrical form do you discover in this maple-leaf ? (An 
irregular pentagon.) Yes, you might also find in it the isos- 
celes triangle and the trapezium. Show them. You also 
know that every plant has (aside from a few so-called root 
or radical leaves) one form of leaves which is consistently 
repeated, though showing slight variations. It is so with the 
ivy. Our notion of an ivy-leaf is a very distinct one. It is 
the type of ivy-leaf form. Among all the different forms of 
ivy-leaves I have furnished you in natura, you will have to 



CONCENTRIC INSTRUCTION ILLUSTRATED. 



187 



find that type. This is the other object of our lesson. Oar 
objects, then, are (1) to find the typical ivy-leaf form, and (2) 
to learn to draw it. 

I. Since we have discussed and drawn other leaf -forms, I 
suppose you can find some things yourselves. First, tell 
whether the ivy-leaf belongs to the simple or complex leaves. 
State the respective order. When is a leaf called simple ? 
When complex ? When lobate ? Show that the iv;^^-leaf is 
lobate. Describe the difi'erent lobes as to their number, rela- 
tive size, and position. Repeat what we have said of the leaf 
so far. (This is to establish connection with botany.) 

II. What geometrical figure do you recognize in this 
leaf ? (Holding up a perfect ivy-leaf.) Who has a leaf 
which shows a perfect pentagon in its outlines ? Show a 
leaf in whose outlines 

a pentagon is only 
suggested, not clearly 
worked out. Has any 
one an ivy-leaf which 
does not exhibit the 
geometrical ground- 
form of a pentagon ? 
There are but few. 
What, then, seems to 
be the typical form of 
the ivy-leaf? What 
kind of a pentagon is 
it ? What leaf may 
be said to be a regular 

pentagon ? Describe the irregular pentagon your leaf rep- 
resents : (a) the sides, (6) the angles. Who has found this 
confirmed in his leaf ? In what way does yours differ ? 
Now repeat in connection what we have so far said about 
the ivy-leaf. 

The irregular pentagon of the typical form shall be drawn 
afterward. First we must take some measurements. Sup- 
pose a straight line be drawn from the apex to the base of 




Fig. 176. 



188 HALLE (PRUSSIAN TROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

the leaf. Under what angle and in what point would that 
strike the base-line which connects the two lobes ? In what 
proportion is this base-line to the length of the perpendicular? 
Now suppose the points of the two middle lobes connected 
by a stright line. (See Fig. 176, points x and n.) What angles 
would this line form with the perpendicular ? At about 
what point would the two lines intersect each other ? Now, 
one pupil may repeat what was said concerning the geomet- 
rical ground form and the construction lines, while another 
goes to the blackboard and draws the construction lines as 
the other pupil dictates. As we found in the maple-leaf, we 
may accept two geometrical forms, the trapezium and the 
isosceles triangle. (This part of the lesson establishes con- 
nection with geometry.) 

The outlines or contours of the lobes remain to be 
sketched. What do you notice on the large one ? It shows 
a line on each side which is curved or waved ; especially in 
the middle a large curvature outward is visible. Draw the 
outline on the board as you see it in your leaf. You will 
find it difficult to determine the outlines of the other lobes 
from your natural leaves. Let us compare other leaves. 
What did we discover in the leaf of the horse-chestnut ? 
The contours of the lobes of that leaf are similar. Here is 
the maple-leaf. In how many extremities of that leaf is the 
similarity of form unquestionable ? But even in the two 
lower ones we have recognized the ground form of the other 
three. What alone could lead us astray ? 

Hence it is apparent that it is a peculiarity of plant- 
leaves that forms repeat themselves in them. Let us see 
whether that is also the case in the ivy-leaf. Who has a 
leaf in which the outer form of the middle lobe is found in 
the side-lobes ? State how the outlines of the different lobes 
are joined, whether in a sharp angle or a curved line. I 
now add the outlines of all the five lobes to our sketch on 
the board. 

Here follows a review, which summarizes the points 
gained. 



CONCENTRIC INSTRUCTION ILLUSTRATED. 



189 



III. Here you see three ivy-leaves (Figs. 177-179) . In what 
particular does II differ from I ? Show the rudiments of the 
lower lobes. Who 

has a natural leaf III. IV. 

that resembles 
this one ? So, 
then, it is evident 
that in the ivy- 
leaf the forms re- 
peat themselves 
also. II proves 
it. Compare II 
with part x^ i/, z 
of I. Only at one 
place a difference 
is seen. Where ? 
Now you will also 
be able to recog- 
nize the contours 

of a lobe in the imperfect leaves of III and lY. What part 
of II is similar to IV ? Where would the fourth and fifth 




Figs. 177-179. 




Figs. 180, 181. 



190 Hi^LLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

lobe be if they had developed ? How do you determine it? 
Who has a leaf similar to IV ? What part of I shows simi- 
larity with III (r, 2/, oc) ? Also in III the division into five 
parts or lobes is suggested. How ? It is plain, then, that 
the ribs of the leaves are important, that indeed they deter- 
mine its construction or rather the construction of the single 
lobes. 

Now if I were to let side ribs go out from the main rib, 
where would that be ? Then you understand the swelling 
in the contours of the leaves. (Pointing to u in Fig. 176.) 
What would develop in this place ? A new lobe ? This is no 
impossibility indeed, but occurs frequently, as V and VI 
(Figs. 180, 181) show. 




IV. The perfect ivy-leaf is now shown in a copy and 
compared with the natural leaf (Fig. 182), and the matter 
discussed is thoroughly reviewed with the aid of this leaf. 



EXPONENT OF THE HERBART MOVEMENT. 191 

V. After that the pupils draw the ivy-leaf from the natu- 
ral leaves before them. Construction lines are permitted at 
first ; they are discarded at a second attempt. 

3. Halle.— The Exponent of the Herbart Movement. 

In previous chapters I have lightly touched upon the 
great movement going through the educational world in 
Germany known as the "Herbartian revival." Hitherto I 
have studiously avoided to state my opinion as to the merits 
of the so-called " Herbartian school." I reserved it until I 
had seen some schools which followed Herbart's principles 
and Ziller's practice. Even now, after having seen such 
schools, I hesitate to decide. It is a case where fools are apt 
to rush in though angels fear to tread. Not that I mean to 
insinuate that I feel very angelic, but that I am not foolish 
enough to jump at a conclusion. I sincerely doubt that the 
Herbartian school ofi'ers the recipe which will improve our 
schools without delay. I grant willingly that, if all our 
teachers were like the brilliant teachers I saw at work in 
the " Francke Stiftungen " at Halle, we might uncondition- 
ally advocate the adoption of the principles and practices of 
the Herbartian school. 

A simile may help me to explain this. There are two 
ways of smoothing a board — the hand-plane and the plan- 
ing-machine. I should trust my dexterity in handicraft to 
make use of a hand-plane, but I should hesitate to use the 
planing-machine with its destructive cutter-heads that make 
three thousand to four thousand revolutions a minute. I 
should hesitate to risk the board as little as my fingers to 
that most efficient and useful device. It is even so with the 
Herbartian practice. It is most intricate, yet withal so won- 
derfully simple that one can not but stand in mute astonish- 
ment when seeing it applied. 

The essential idea underlying the practice is this : Every- 
thing taught during a day, a week, a month, a year, should 
all be organically connected. In the center of all stands a 
" Gesinnungs-Stoff " (a matter appealing to the heart and 
U 



192 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

interest). Thus, for instance, I found in the third school 
year Robinson Crusoe as the central point from which is- 
sued all the interest, and to which was referred back all else. 
All language-lessons take their material first from the nar- 
ration of the day, then from other sources. All written work 
is in some natural or artificial way brought into some con- 
nection with Robinson Crusoe. Arithmetical problems, I 
thought, were excepted from this rule. But no, even they 
primarily referred or alluded to him. As, for instance, Rob- 
inson had so many sheep or goats ; he took sixty with him. 
How many were left on the island to shift for themselves ? 
He had been on the ocean so-and-so many days; he counted 
the marks that told him how many days he had spent on the 
island and found them to be so-and-so many. How long 
had he been away from home ? etc. In reading, the pupils 
started with Robinson, and their interest in reading was 
kept alive because each boy identified himself with Robinson 
and thus read much and well. I do not mean to say that all 
the children learned was saturated with the narrative of 
Robinson ; but the teacher employed their intense interest in 
that hero as a starting-point in nearly every lesson. 

These Robinson Crusoe lessons were exceedingly fruitful 
in many ways, for they gave opportunities for stimulating 
self-activity which without them would have remained dor- 
mant. Thus, for instance, they gave rise to a desire to imi- 
tate Robinson in making pots of clay, ladders and furniture 
of wood (all in miniature), fish-hooks, tools, and many other 
things. The best specimens are preserved and serve as illus- 
trations in review-lessons. I was present during the last 
Robinson lesson of the year's course given in this class. 
The subject was Robinson returning home. Something was 
said about sailing-vessels and steamers, and the teacher re- 
marked, "Well, you never saw a sail or an anchor, so I 
must draw them for you. " He did so, and next day several 
boys brought sails m natura and anchors made of lead. 
(See Robinson Crusoe Lesson, No. 5 below.) 

Religion proper is not taught in this grade, but the nar- 



THE MISER AMONG THE ANIMALS. I93 

ration of Robinson offers occasions in g-reat abundance for 
teaching morals. Moral precepts are thus very effectively 
learned because they are drawn from the children's own ex- 
perience, for they experience Robinson's trials and apply 
them to every-day occurrences. 

I asked Dr. Otto Frick, the director of the " Francke 
Stiftung-en/' to what extent Herbart's principles and Ziller's 
interpretations were adopted in the different schools of the 
"Stiftungen." He replied: "We have absolutely no com- 
pulsion ^ath regard to the methods of teaching. I am not 
autocratically inclined, and like to leave to each teacher the 
choice of his methods. Of course, I advocate Herbart, and 
in our own teachers' meetings we discuss his works thor- 
oughly. His ideas have found their way into our schools 
with the impressibility of truth. There is still opposition 
among my numerous teachers against Herbart, and that will 
perhaps not end so long as there exists a peg to hang an ar- 
gument on ; but, while I am happy to be able to say Herbart 
is gaining ground, I am rejoiced also in noticing that the 
wholesome opposition (which, of course, never turns into hos- 
tility) acts like a clarifying element in the Herbart camp." 

4. The Miser among the Animals. 

An ideal lesson in natural history I heard in the " Francke 
Stiftungen " in Halle. It was in a school in which I least ex- 
pected such a re- 
sult, namely, in a 
free school (school 
for the poor) and 
in a class of the 
third year. The 
subject was the 
hamster, or Ger- t- .00 ^ tt 

' Fig. 183.— The Hamster, or German Marmot. 

man marmot. A {Cricetus Frumentarius Pallas.) 

stuffed specimen 

was exhibited and also several chromo-lithographic pictures. 

I will omit the description given both by pupils and teacher, 




194: HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

it being mucli like tlie one I sketched in the article " Nature 
Description." There was more in this lesson worthy of 
note. The children, eight to ten years of age, spoke with 
conviction, because they spoke of experiences, having been 
out in the fields with their teacher and explored a hamster's 
burrow. 

It is a maxim of this teacher never to allow a positive 
statement on the part of the pupils unless it is the result of 
actual observation and experience, or of conviction, and as 
such the result of correct reasoning. This will appear more 
distinctly in the course of this sketch. The reader will 
please bear in mind that I offer only a few phases of the 
lesson. 

" What is the reason the marmot is called a miser ? " 

" All summer he gathers food and hoards it up in his cave. 
He carries home grain in his spacious cheek-pockets." 

" How do you know that ? " 

" We saw some grain in the cheek-pockets of the one we 
caught, and his den was full of it like a barn." 

" But it can not be right to call him a miser for collect- 
ing food and providing for the winter. We do that, too, by 
keeping potatoes in the cellar, flour in barrels, and so forth. 
The bees, too, provide for the winter. I should think it un- 
just to call the animal a miser for what appears to be noth- 
ing but wise, provident saving. " 

" Ah, well, but a miser is he who saves for himself only, 
and will not share his stores with others. We are expected 
to share our provisions with others. The bee never gathers 
for its own use, but for the whole hive, while the hamster 
won't let anybody else have any of his hoarded treasures ; 
he lives alone, and eats the stored-up grain himself. We 
call him a miser for that reason." 

" Let us see whether we shall not find other reasons for 
calling him a miser. Does a miser let everybody know that 
he has money saved ? " 

" No, he hides it in a safe place where no one but himself 
can get at it. And that is exactly what the hamster does. 



THE MISER AMONG THE ANIMALS. 195 

He hides liis treasures in the ground, in a cave dug by him- 
self. It is difficult to get at him and his treasures." 

" Do you think a miser would fill his safe with copper 
pennies ? " 

" No, as soon as he has a hundred of them, he has them 
changed to a silver mark, for that takes less room and can 
be hidden better ; and when he has ten of them, he has 
them changed to a gold piece, which is still smaller, and 
worth as much as a thousand pennies. Copper and silver 
would fill his safe too soon." 

"Well said. The hamster does not fill his cave with 
bullrjr potatoes, turnips, and roots, that take up much space, 
but with yellow wheat and oats. But tell me what the 
miser does if his money-safe is attacked ? " 

"He defends it, and so does the marmot. Don't you 
know, when I reached with my hand into the hole, he bit 
me badly ? We had to use a spade to get at him." 

" Hugo, you may tell us what you remember best of our 
excursion to the hamster's cave." 

" When we arrived at a place where fresh loose earth was 
piled up around a hole, we thought it must be the entrance 
of the cave of a pretty good-sized animal, at least as large as 
a cat. After the animal inside had bitten Paul's fingers we 
knew we should catch him. You thought it might be a 
hamster. Some of us watched the holes — the one on top 
which we had some difficulty in finding, and the one we had 
discovered first — so that he could not come out, while the 

other boys went for Mr. H 's dog. Oh, we could scarcely 

wait for him we got so excited ! Once we saw the hamster 
come to the opening, but he darted back. When Packan, 
the dog, came (you'll remember it was the young one w4th 
the crooked legs, called badger-legged dog), he was told to 
enter the hole. He sniffed at the hole for some time, and 
then boldly entered. Presently we heard a yelling and 
snarling in the ground, and, not long after, Packan appeared 
again with bloody snout at the opening of the tunnel, and 
we knew he had killed the animal. Now you told us we 



196 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

might dig for the animal, but to do it carefully, lest the 
earth should cave in and cover up what we were anxious to 
see. So we dug and dug, following the tunnel, and I tell 
you it was hard work ; some roots of a tree were in the 
way. " 

" Yes," cried other boys, " it was hard work; we dug for 
it till the sweat rolled down our faces ! " 

" At last we saw the cave or burrow, and then you took 
the shovel to open the hole carefully. Yes, there he lay, 
Mr. Hamster, stone-dead. We laid him aside, for first we 
wanted to see his house. " 

(Boy went to the board without being told, took the 
crayon and sketched while he continued to tell the story.) 



JMi_ 




Fig. 184. 



" The cave was almost egg-shaped, and had several parts 
or smaller caves, nearly all filled with gold-yellow grain. 
It was like a house with many rooms in it. The tunnel 
through which the dog had entered was slanting and quite 
long. On the top of the cave there was the second tunnel 
which went almost straight up." 

" Very well done, my son. Did you see that the little 
dog found it difficult to squeeze himself through the hole ? 
I wonder why he was not killed by the hamster." 

" Oh, I suppose the tunnel was wide enough for the dog 
to creep into. You see it must be pretty wide, for the 
hamster has to turn around in it. " 

" Did you notice that, around the hole we saw first, loose 
earth was piled up ? " 



THE MISER AMONG THE ANIMALS. 197 

" Yes, that was what called our attention to the opening." 

" Was the hole B discovered as easily ? " 

" No, we had to search for it for some time. At last we 
found it, almost hidden and covered with dry leaves. But 
there was no loose earth around it." 

" That must have had some cause ; can you, or any one of 
the class, think of it ? " Another boy says : 

" The hamster must have begun to dig here " (pointing at 
A), " and thrown the earth behind him. I believe he dug the 
tunnel farther and deeper in a slanting way, till he thought 
he had dug deep enough. Then he began to widen out a 
cave. He carried or rather, shoveled, the loose earth with 
his hind-feet, or paws, out through the tunnel till his burrow 
was wide enough." 

"Yes, that is likely the way he did, but that does not 
explain why the edge of tunnel B was so clean without any 
loose earth around it." 

That was a poser for the boys, and the teacher did not 
feel disposed to help them. After some hard thinking, one 
boy's face lit up, and he said : " I believe I can tell the reason 
why the edge of that perpendicular tunnel was clean. You 
notice, from Hugo's sketch, that this tunnel was a little wider 
below than above; that it looked funnel-shaped. I think 
the animal did not begin to dig on the surface, but from be- 
low. The earth he loosened he shoveled with his paws out 
through tunnel A, and continued digging upward till he 
had reached the siu'face. Thus, no earth was collected 
around the hole B, for it fell inward." 

"Very well said, Fritz. But I am curious to find out 
why he made that tunnel at all. It must be very inconven- 
ient to use it. If he entered that hole B, he would instantly 
fall down into the cave, and such a fall would not be pleas- 
ant enough to try it often." 

"Ah, well, he must have a place for the air to come in, or 
go out. Without the hole B, the cave would soon smell bad. " 

" That is a pretty good reason, my lad, but for that pur- 
pose the tunnel might have been slanting, giving him two 



198 HALLE (PRUSSIAN RROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

convenient ways to get in and out. There must be another 
reason, I think, so try again." 

" Is the hamster a fighting animal like the wolf ? 

"" No, my son, he is not. Though he is very ferocious, he 
fights only when attacked." 

" Then, I believe, I can guess at the cause of that vertical 
opening. You remember the entrance to it was almost hid- 
den under bushes. I believe that the marmot uses that hole 
to reach his den only when he is pursued or chased ; and 
through B he can reach it quicker than through A." 

"No," interrupted another boy, "you mean he can dis- 
appear from the sight of his pursuers more quickly by enter- 
ing the hole B than he can do it going through A." 

" Indeed, Fred, that must be the reason. Hunters tell me 
that hamsters sometimes disappear at quite a different place 
from that in which the entrance of their den is (point A)." 

This is only an episode of the lesson I heard. Some of 
my readers may be disposed to doubt the report of this con- 
versation, and I do not vouch for the exact choice of words 
and expressions, but essentially the report is correct. 

I heard that lesson, and noted down on the spot the man- 
ner and method. Teacher and pupils conversed as though 
under no restraint, yet an interruption of a speaker occurred 
seldom, and then it seemed quite in place. Not an inatten- 
tive child was seen ; all were deeply interested. 

When again the stuffed animal was viewed, and the pict- 
ures were compared, it seemed as though a class of high- 
school students, not little fellows of nine and ten years, re- 
cited. The fact is, they said nothing but what they really 
had seen, or could pronounce as the result of their own hard 
thinking. In the course of the lesson the feet of the mar- 
mot, his teeth, his whole build, were compared with those of 
the mole, the rat, and other animals, and the whole family 
of rodents. In other words, the knowledge these children 
accumulated was organically connected with previous cog- 
nitions. 

Oh, how I wished to be a child again and go to school 



A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE. I99 

here! All the teachers in the "Francke Stiftungen" are 
proud of that colleague of theirs. His name is Koehler. If 
any of my American brethren should visit Europe and 
should chance to go to Halle, let them call on Dr. Frick, to 
get permission to hear this teacher. 

5. A Lesson on Robinson Crusoe. 

The reader is referred to previous chapters to understand 
the importance of these lessons. 

Teacher. "Well, my children, we heard that Robinson 
had at last found means to return home. He was ready to 
embark in the ship, the captain of which was willing to 
take him across the ocean. What do you think he took 
along with him ? " 

Pupil. " I think he took his parrot." 

Teacher. "Why?" 

Pupil. " Oh, he liked the bird, and he thought it would 
be a nice present for his mother. " 

Teacher. " Indeed, my child, he was sure to have taken 
his parrot, and I am glad he thought of that dear mother of 
his. Would you have thought of your mother first, if you 
had been in his place ? " 

Pupil. " Yes. Don't you know he had nearly broken his 
mother's heart by running away from home ? " 

Teacher. " Well, what else did he take with him ? " 

Pupil. " I think he took Friday. He could not have left 
him alone on the island. He owed him thanks for being his 
companion. " 

Teacher. " True, we must never forget a debt of grati- 
tude. He who in fortune forgets a friend is not worth 
having a friend. What else did he take ? " 

Pupil. "He took his self-made clothes and parasol, to 
show how he had helped himself." 

Teacher. " Yes, it is likely that he took them. Anything 
else ? " 

Pupil. " I think he took the tools he had made, and some 
of the pots he had formed and baked." 



200 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

Teacher. "The tools, yes, but hardly the pots, for he 
would have found it very troublesome to travel with them. 
So then, they took leave of the island. The sun shone 
brightly, and the birds sang as though they meant to say 
good-by to Robinson and his black friend. They both went 
on board the large sailing-vessel, where they were well re- 
ceived. Now the anchor was wound up." (Teacher draws 
an anchor, pupils explain its use.) " The sails were hoisted " 
(sails were drawn on the board, by pupils likewise on slate), 
" and the wind began to move the vessel onward. Robinson 
stood on deck and looked back to the island on which he 
and Friday had spent so many weary months. Both remem- 
bered the many hardships they had suffered. — Now some 
one may tell the story so far." 

Pupil. "When the captain of the sailing-vessel had 
agreed to take Robinson with him to Hamburg,* Robinson 
said to him : ' Let me take my friend Friday. He has been 
my companion for many months and years, and it would be 
ungrateful if I should leave him here alone on the island.' 
The captain was willing to take the black fellow also. Then 
Robinson took on board what was dear to him, his parrot, 
his tools, his clothes of goat-skin, and other things which he 
wanted to show at home. He intended to give the parrot to 
his dear mother, the poor lady who had grieved for her bad, 
runaway boy. Both Robinson and Friday took leave of 
the i^laces on the island where they had found shelter, and 
by taking the captain along on their tour of leave-taking 
they showed him the island and many of the objects that 
had served them. When they stood on the deck of the sail- 
ing-vessel, they looked back upon the island. The sun 
shone upon the gently swaying palm-trees, the goats were 
capering among the rocks, and the birds sang and twittered 
as though they meant to take leave of Robinson," . . . etc., 
with delightful childish particularity. 

* Remember this was a German school. Another deviation from De- 
foe's original is found in the substitution of goats for llamas. 



A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE. 201 

Now another pupil told the story, somewhat differently, 
a proof that each pupil thought his own thoughts. Then 
this part of the narrative was entitled '^Robinson's Departure 
from the Island.'^ This heading found a place on the black- 
board under I. 

Teacher. " For the present, children, we must leave Rob- 
inson on the ocean, and let us hope he will not meet with 
another storm such as had wrecked the ship on which he had 
left home. We have a gentleman with us who has been on 
the ocean several times. He comes all the way from America. 
Ask him how long it took him to cross the mighty ocean." 

Pupil. " Oh, no, he can not have come from there ; he is 
not black or red like Negroes and Indians." Some boys 
laughingly agreed that the teacher's statement could not 
have been right. But others looked sober, and one of them 
said : " My cousin went over to America some time ago, and 
when he comes back I hope he will be white yet. People 
don't get black there who are not born black." That sobered 
the others at once, and now they believed that there might 
be white people in America. After this fact was acknowl- 
edged the boys said to me, " Do tell us how long it took you 
to cross the ocean." 

" It took me thirteen days and ten hours, but you see, I 
came in a large steamer. Had I been in a sailing-vessel, it 
would have taken me much longer — at any rate, several 
weeks. " 

Pupil. " Why, that's nearly two weeks ! Did you not 
see any land on the way ? " 

" Yes, on the tenth day we hailed the coast of England, 
and after that we hardly ever lost the coast out of sight, till 
we reached Hamburg." 

Pupil. " Well, how long does it take a sailing-vessel to 
cross the ocean ? " 

" If the wind is favorable, about five weeks. But it may 
take seven weeks." 

Pupil. " Hooh ! seven weeks ; why that's, forty-nine 
days, just think of it ! Did you see any fishes ? " 



202 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

" Yes, my dear, we saw large fishes, called tumblers, who 
jumped from one wave into another, following the steamer 
to eat what was thrown overboard. They are called hog-fish, 
because their flesh looks like fresh pork, rosy and fat." 
Pupil. " Did you have any storms on the sea ? " 
" Yes, a storm that lasted three days, and we had much 
fog, in which we could not see the bow of the steamer when 
standing at the stern." Other questions with which I was 
pelted I will omit here, and proceed with the lesson. 

Teacher. " Let us see, boys : our story tells us that Rob- 
inson had a passage which lasted nine weeks. If you re- 
member where Robinson's island is situated, west of South 
America, the voyage was very swift." (Map is shown, and 
distances are compared.) " The vessel met with no storm or 
fog, and the weather was fine. The fishes in the sea could 
be seen playing in the sunshine. Robinson and Friday 
made themselves useful on board by helping to set sails and 
doing other things. At last they reached the coast of Eng- 
land, but did not land. The vessel glided along the shores 
of England, France, Holland, and Germany, and finally up 
the river Elbe, and entered the harbor of Hamburg. Some 
one may tell the story of ^ Robinson'' s Voyage across the 
Ocean.'' ^'' 

First one, then two others, told the story, mentioning 
time of voyage, comparing it with that of a steamer. The 
fishes, sunshine, wind, sails, work on deck, and other points 
were touched with a faithfulness truly astonishing. 

Teacher " Let us proceed. Tell me what was done 
when the ship was fastened to the dock ? " 

Pupil. " The people left the ship and went on land." 
Teacher. "Leaving everything under deck they had 
brought with them ? " 

Pupil. " No, they unloaded the freight." 
Teacher. " What may that have consisted of ? " 
Pupil. " Well, the ship had been in the South Sea, and 
may have been loaded with oranges or other southern fruit, 
perhaps with cocoanuts." 



A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE. 203 

Teacher. ." What other things are brought frora foreign 
countries ? " 

Pupil. " Petroleum, wheat, dye-wood, wild animals, hides, 
dried fish. " 

Teacher. "Think of some things that do not grow in 
Germany." 

Pupil. " Coffee, rice, tea, cane-sugar, cotton, tobacco." 

Teacher. '' Very well. Our story does not say with what 
the ship was loaded ; but, when it was fastened to the dock, 
all the freight was carried out and wheeled into the big 
magazines along the dock, where the merchants came to 
buy. Shall we stay at the dock and see the freight unloaded, 
or follow Robinson and Friday into town ? " 

Pupil. " Let us follow Robinson." 

Teacher. " All right ; it must have taken several days to 
unload the ship, and Robinson wanted to hurry home to see 
his dear old mother. How do you think Friday behaved 
when they reached the harbor ? " 

Pupil. " Oh, he must have been very much astonished, 
for he had never seen a city. The many ships, the high 
houses, the many white people, and the smoking chimney- 
stacks of the steamers, the cranes for unloading ships, all of 
it must have looked very queer to him." 

Another pupil, " The strangest things the savage saw 
must have been the horses drawing wagons. ' Look, Robin- 
son,' he cried, 'look at these animals! Did you ever see 
such strange things ? ' And when they entered a horse-car 
and noticed the long rows of houses with the many many 
windows, the thousands of people on the streets, and all the 
many objects of interest flitting by, he sat in dumb amaze- 
ment." 

Teacher. " Very well told, my boy. I see I need not tell 
the story myself ; you can tell it as well as I can. What 
happened when they left the street-car ? " 

Pupil. "Oh, Friday saw so many new things he had 
never seen before that he stood still every minute to ask 
Robinson to look at this and that." Other pupils. "Yes ; 



204 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

and when they came to a big shop-window he wanted to 
know what everything seen there was for." — "He reached 
out his hand to take some of the things to look at them 
closer, but was much astonished to find he could not do that 
on account of the thick pane of glass between him and the 
articles." — " I wonder how often he cried to Robinson, who 
was urging him on, to stay and look at a new article he had 
never seen ? " — " I believe he was afraid when he saw the first 
dog. He may have thought him to be a wild animal, such 
as a panther." 

Teacher. " We will call this part of our story ' Their Ar- 
rival in Hamburg and Friday'^s Astonishment.'' Some one 
may tell me the story. " It is repeated in a connected manner 
by several pupils. Then the teacher said: " Before we hear 
what Robinson found at home, let us repeat the three parts 
of our story. This section shall tell us of his departure 
from the island ; the second section may tell us all about his 
voyage across the ocean ; and the third of their arrival in 
the harbor and Friday's astonishment at the new sights he 
beheld." It was surprising to see how faithfully they re- 
called the different incidents spoken of and how well they 
expressed their thoughts. 

Teacher. " At last they reached the house where Robinson 
was born. He looked at the door-plate, which used to bear 
the name ' Daniel Crusoe,' but now bore another name. Rob- 
inson rang the bell. A servant opened the door and asked 
whom he wanted to see. He said, ' I want to see Mr. and 
Mrs. Crusoe.' ' They do not live here any longer; but wait a 
moment, I will call my master. He may tell you where to 
find them.' The gentleman came and looked at this strange 
couple, Robinson not having had time to shave his long 
beard and cut his hair, and Friday, the black fellow, must 
have looked odd enough in this city of white people ; and then 
remember that they were laden with queer-shaped things and 
a jabbering parrot. Robinson asked anxiously after his 
mother. The gentleman of the house asked them in, offered 
them seats, and then told them all about the old people. 



A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE. 205 

" Robinson's mother had grieved so much over her run- 
away boy that she fell ill, and, when news reached her that 
the ship in which he had sailed for foreign lands had been 
wrecked, she died of a broken heart. Think of the bitter 
tears of repentance Robinson cried when he heard that that 
dear, gentle, loving mother of his had died of grief ! He was 
a strong man now ; but the hot tears trickled down into his 
long beard, and for some time he could not control himself. 
Friday, seeing his friend's great distress, began to weep too ; 
but the parrot that was intended for a present to the old 
dame did not know what to make of it. At last Robinson 
controlled himself enough to ask after his father. 

" He was still alive, the gentleman said, but he had re- 
tired from business and lived in a small house near the har- 
bor, where he sat, lonely and forsaken, to watch the ships 
coming in and leaving the harbor. Robinson thanked the 
gentleman kindly for the information and left the old house, 
to look up his father. After many inquiries along the 
wharf, he found the house where his father lived. They 
hurried up-stairs, and in a tidy little room they found the old 
man. His hair had become white, his eyes dim, and his 
voice trembling. Robinson threw himself on his knees be- 
fore him and told him he was that bad, runaway boy. He 
had been saved, and had come back to him never to leave 
him again. The old man laid his hands on his son's head 
and thanked God for having given him back his boy." 

My readers may believe me if I say the pupils sat there 
spellbound, tears in their eyes, and many of them were sob- 
bing. The teacher had told the story so touchingly that the 
children's sympathy had been aroused. Not an incredulous 
smile, not a sneer was seen, not a word was heard from them 
for some moments after the teacher had closed his narrative. 
It was one of those moments in which it is said an angel 
walks through the room. At last the teacher roused the 
children from a deep reverie by asking them to repeat this 
part of the story, which he termed " Robinson's Bitter Re- 
pentance.''' It was done with touching simplicity and great 



206 HALLE (PRUSSLiN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

accuracy. Again the entire lesson was reviewed, partly by 
questioning the class, partly by allowing them to narrate 
portions in a connected manner. Many new incidents were 
added, and, when at last the lesson closed, the story of Rob- 
inson Crusoe was finished to the satisfaction of all con- 
cerned. 

This narration furnishes the " Gesinnungs-Stoff " (mate- 
rial for the sentiments) of this class as other tales do in lower 
and biblical history does in higher grades. Besides offering 
food for the sentiments, these lessons increase the pupil's 
knowledge, give opportunities for employing their hands, 
and polish their language. Much of what is offered in a con- 
nected manner in the above account was given in conversa- 
tion ; but a verbatim repetition might have been tedious to 

the reader. 

6. A Language-Lesson. 

It was in a boys' school of the " Francke Stiftungen " 
that I heard a lesson in reading and language preparatory 
to a composition exercise. The subject was that well-known 
poem of Chamisso, " The Sun brings it to Light." The poem 
was read in parts, and the contents were grouped logically 
in four divisions: 1. The master and his wdfe in the work- 
shop ; 2. The wife's efforts to get at the secret ; 3. The be- 
trayal of the secret ; 4. The consequences. All who know 
the beautiful poem can understand how interestingly it can 
be treated. I wdll therefore only say that the teacher suc- 
ceeded in bringing out all the points that could be of assist- 
ance in writing the composition — that is, in transposing the 
poem into prose. 

But there was an epilogue to the lesson which proved a 
revelation to the class. Let me sketch it. 

Teacher. " How do you think a poem is suggested to a 
poet ? " 

Ansiver. "He sees something beautiful and gives the 
feelings it creates in him expression in rhymed words." 

Another answer. " He may hear of a praiseworthy act, 
or read of it in the papers, and may be much moved by it, so 



A LANGUAGE-LESSOX. 207 

mucli, indeed, that a desire is awakened in him to presei've 
in poetry the memory of the brave act ; or, instead of an act 
of heroism, it may be any other memorable occurrence." 

Teacher. " It so happened that Chamisso read of this case 
of murder and of the discovery of the guilty party, and then 
set it in poetry. But do you think the poems produced thus 
accurately describe the cases as given in newspaper ac- 
counts ? " 

Answer. " No, not exactly. They often differ very much in 
names, in descriptions, in regard to time and circumstances, 
etc. The poet is likely to ' decorate ' the occurrence, and 
often supplies a poetic luster which the occurrence itself 
does not possess. Thus, for instance, the poet Schwab could 
not have known what the great-grandmother, grandmother, 
mother, and child said and thought just before the light- 
ning struck them. Yet in his poem, ' The Thunderstorm,' 
he makes them say and do things as though he had been 
present and seen and heard it all." 

Teacher. " Well, then, what is your opinion with regard 
to this poem of Chamisso ? " 

Answer. " What Fred said, I think, holds good in this 
case. The poet evidently supplied description and senti- 
ments, and only the essential facts are the same as in the 
account he read." 

Teacher. " We will see. I have here the account which 
induced Chamisso to make the poem that we read to-day. I 
will read you the account. Notice what changes the poet 
made," 

And now he proceeded to read an old popular narrative 
which bore such striking resemblance to Chamisso's poem 
that the boys were much surprised. Such words as " malt 
zitternde Kringel an die Wand," "plagt ihn mit Hadern 
und Bitten," occurred in the prose narration, even the name 
of the master was the same. Altogether it was the most 
faithful and minute transposition of poetry into prose that 
one could imagine. '' What now, boys ? " asked the teacher 
when he had finished reading the account. 
15 



208 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXONY). 

Answer. " What a surprising similarity ! How the poet 
must have labored to preserve the particular expressions, 
and how he could mold the entire accouut into metric feet 
and rh janes without omitting one detail or changing even 
the characteristic expressions of the prose! Or have you 
been making sport of us by reading a prose rendition of the 
poetry ? I feel disposed to ask which is the older produc- 
tion, the poem or the prose narration ? " 

Teacher. " No ; the prose narration is the older. It is 
the very account the poet transposed. But what do you in- 
fer from the fact that the two show such a remarkable simi- 
larity ? " 

Answer. " I think that enhances Chamisso's value as a 
poet. If he could so wield the language as to preserve all 
the beauties of expression found in this prose narration and 
add to them by molding them into poetry, he must be a 
genius of no low type." 

Teacher and pupils all agreed with that, and when the 
boys began to write their composition they resolved to pre- 
serve the felicitous choice of words which makes the poem so 
popular. They went to work, indeed, as though they meant 
to produce a masterpiece in prose, a determination which I 
traced back to the innocent but effective device of the teacher. 

7. Miscellaneous Notes from Halle. 

Among the several schools in the " Francke Stif tungen " 
in Halle in which I spent some time, was a normal school 
for young ladies. It had thirty-three pupils, between eight- 
een and twenty-one years of age. These young ladies were 
very much more healthy-looking than the average pupil of 
the Cincinnati Normal School and other similar institutions 
in America with which I am acquainted, but they were not 
so handsome and not by far so intelligent as the American 
young ladies. The lesson I heard was one in psychology 
and logic. It seemed as though this was the most difficult 
study under the sun, although the teacher was a perfect 
master of the science and art of teaching. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES FROM HALLE. 209 

In a g-irls' school in Halle I heard a lesson in percentage 
in a class similar to our D Grammar (fifth school year). 
The pupils handled the subject clumsily, as would be expected, 
but to think that, at the close of the fourth year, the subject 
of fractions is finished, is astonishing. I found this in sev- 
eral places in Germany and France, and can explain it only 
by the fact that the ponderous chapter of denominate num- 
bers is omitted. In countries where the metric system is 
used the measures are taught along with numeration and 
notation. 

A lesson in geography that I heard in an upper grade of 
a girls' school is also very vividly remembered. The teacher 
discussed continental climate, its causes and effects. Every 
conclusion the pupils arrived at was found by themselves by 
comparison of facts. All the teacher did was pointing out 
the topographical conditions of each continent. Our Amer- 
ican scorching summers and cold, blizzard winters were ac- 
counted for, and I could not help but admire the teacher's 
intimate acquaintance with America, and the girls' intense 
interest and keen intellect. 

One observation made in every class-room of the " Francke 
Stiftungen " is, that the teachers make a halt every now and 
then during the lesson, and carefully go over the work by 
calling upon pupils to present in a connected manner what 
conclusion was drawn, and upon what premises it rested. 
They thereby prevented a gi^eat deal of reviewing; they 
allowed the matter to sink in deeper ; they enabled the pupil 
to look back over the entire road on which they had arrived 
at their conclusions. These " part-reviews " are most desira- 
ble also for the reason that the pupils get conscious of their 
reasoning and are enabled to reproduce it in writing, which 
task follows nearly every lesson in these schools. 

It is natural to suppose that in an institution like 
Francke's, industrial work of the girls is much thought of. 
It would be a useless repetition, though, to describe it, since 
I have dwelt on that subject elsewhere at length. (Compare 
pages 120-136.) Suffice it to say that I noticed an effort 



210 HALLE (PRUSSIAN PROVINCE OF SAXOXY). 

at economical cutting of linen and shirting in the getting 
up of undergarments which is characteristic. A blackboard 

















































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Fig. 185. 



covered with a close network of lines was used to draw first 
the piece of linen according to exact measurements ; every 



SCHOOLS IN PRUSSIA. 211 

square on the board represents a square decimetre. Then the 
body of a chemise, for instance, was cut out, the sleeves, the 
triangular sides, squares for the arm-pits etc. The foregoing 
sketch shows the mode of procedure. 



CHAPTER IX. 

from various other prussian provinces. 
1. Schools in Prussia. 

There are four classes of public schools in Prussian as 
well as in other German cities. It may be of interest to 
learn their distinctions : 

1. People's Schools, either Catholic or Protestant, but both 
maintained by state and community. These people's schools 
have an eight years' course. Children of both sexes enter at 
six and leave at thirteen or fourteen years. No language 
but German is taught, and this almost entirely without the 
aid of grammar, simply by careful training in the use of the 
language. Arithmetic is carried on not quite so far as we 
do in our common schools. History is taught, both German 
and universal history, chiefly in biographies. Geography, 
topographical, political, mathematical, and physical — within 
a limited compass, of course. Physics and natural history 
are taught during the last two years of the course, only in 
an elementary way, not quite so far perhaps as Paul Bert's 
recent book shows, which has been presented to the Ameri- 
can public lately. Drawing, singing, and gymnastics are 
all taught to a greater extent than is done in America. In 
their readers the pupils find more solid knowledge than is 
found in the flimsy conversations of our English- American 
readers ; the books contain masterpieces of all kinds of 
prose and poetry, instructive and amusing. Composing 
in words and pictures goes on at every step, and is developed 
to a very astonishing degree. 



212 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

2. Burger Schools^ Citizen's Schools so called in contra- 
distinction from the People's Schools, which are elementary 
in this respect, that they teach the elements of knowledge 
and abstain from scientific presentation. These Biirger 
Schools attempt more than mere elements. Their course is 
about ten years, beginning with the sixth and ending with 
the sixteenth year of age. The first three years are con- 
sidered the preparatory school. After that the semi-scientific 
course begins, which embraces besides the common branches 
also French and a little Latin. The natural sciences are 
treated more thoroughly in the higher grades, and drawing 
leans toward industrial i)ursuits. The Biirger Schools are 
only for boys. 

Side by side with these schools are the 

Higher Young Ladies^ Schools, of which I can not say 
much, not having visited many. I only know that they ter- 
minate in a post-graduate course for young teachers. The 
Burger and Young Ladies' Schools resemble in their higher 
grades our city high-schools. The Biirger School does not 
prepare for the university. It may be said that this class of 
schools was established to offer an education more advanced 
than can be given in People's Schools, and less extended than 
a preparation for the university would necessitate. All relig- 
ions and denominations are admitted, and religious instruc- 
tion is given in these schools by specially appointed clergy- 
men, both Catholic and Protestant. The Young Ladies' 
School is mostly for Protestants, while for Catholic girls the 
higher convent-schools are open. In the People's Schools 
religion is taught by the regular class teachers and the pu- 
pils are considered ready for graduation when they are ready 
to be confirmed in church. 

3. Higher Schools, which may be said to be on a level 
with the majority of our colleges. They are all for boys. 
Among these schools there are three distinct divisions : 

I. Gymnasium, or Lyceum, or Classical School. These 
schools prepare for the three learned professions — law, medi- 
cine, and theology. Much emphasis is laid upon Latin, 



A DEVICE, NOT A METHOD. 213 

Greek, and Hebrew, as^ well as history and archaeology. 
While modern languages and sciences are not neglected, 
they can not be said to be the most important branches of 
the curriculum. 

Its course is fourteen years, from the sixth till the twen- 
tieth year of life. 

The teachers are all graduates of universities. 

II. Realschule, also called Real -gymnasium, pays more 
attention to modern languages and the sciences than to the 
classical languages and archeology. Much attention is 
given to drawing and the mathematics. Students of medi- 
cine, engineering, and business men are prepared here. 

Course, fourteen years. Teachers all university men. 

III. Special Schools, are either industrial or art schools, 
or teachers' seminaries. Among the latter a few are, under 
certain restrictions, open to ladies. 

The course of all these special schools varies so much, 
that a statement as to its length can not safely be made. 

The teachers of art and technical schools are artists, en- 
giners, artisans, etc. 

Only large cities in centers of industry maintain special 
schools of this kind, while normal schools or teachers' semi- 
naries are state institutions and mostly found in small towns. 

4. Universities, the work of which is so well known in 
America that I need not say anything about them. 

2. A Device, not a Method. 

Business led me to the little town of V in Holland,* 

near the German boundary, and having a few hours to while 
away in waiting, I called at the elementary school, where I 
found a bright, blue-eyed young man busily engaged in 
teaching about fifty pupils between six and ten years of 
age. 



* This beinw the only school I saw in Holland, I insert the article in this 
chapter, being aware that the Dutch teachers to a great extent copy their 
German brethren. 



214 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

He did not ask me the customary American question, 
" What would you like to hear ? " but, after offering me a 
seat, proceeded with his work as if no stranger was pres- 
ent. I liked that, and soon my liking for the young man 
grew into admiration, when I observed with what loving- 
kindness he treated the youngsters, and in what a masterly 
way he handled a class and taught his subjects. 

The pupils were young, and the class before him at the 
board may have averaged eight years. They were wrestling 
with fractions ; yes, dear reader, fractions ! Not such as 
f fll, but familiar ones, such as ^, i, J, etc. The teacher used 
a very interesting contrivance to illustrate the parts of a 
whole. I will sketch it. 



^^^^^^ ^^/^^ 


'::Y///7zy//y/'yv////A^y////////''////////y//y////yv/y/y^^^^^^ <-x ^ 


1 

; 


1 




■ y. 1 yi 




. \i \ y^ \ H \ y* 




''< % \ % \ )i \ 'A \ % \ ''^ \ y^ \ y< 




; '^ 1 '/m 1 '/.s 1 ^6 1 'y^, 1 X<^ 1 ''^6 1 y^s \ '-Is 1 \ \ '/.5 1 '^6 | '^6 | ^6 1 '-<6 | '-Je 




>< >^ 1 M 1 K 


^■^v ^ ■ 


t \ \ % \ % \ % \ ^. ! y^ 




■. %2\yn\ Vn 1 '^ 1 yX2 1 V,2 1 V,2 1 V,^ 1 '/.2 i '/,2 1 V,2 | Vl2 




^ H 1 5< 1 k 1 H 1 % 




y, '-^o 1 ''to ' '0 ''10 '•'lo 1 '/lo '/lo ' 10 ''lu 1 '--'10 




^>^ 


/. 
y. 


^^ 




A^ 



Fig. 186. 



The above is to represent a chest of shallow shelves, into 
which boards fit snugly ; the boards are cut accurately into 
parts, as indicated in the cut, and each part is labeled. A 
glance at the above sketch will suffice to reveal the purpose 
of the contrivance. It speaks for itself. 

The teacher had removed the thirds, fifths, sixths, and 
others, and now showed that a whole was equal to f , |, f, 



A DEVICE, NOT A METHOD. 215 

If. Then taking one of the halves out, he asked how many 
fourths, eighths, and sixteenths made one half, etc. Eeduc- 
tion, ascending and descending, was thus thoroughly exem- 
plified and practiced. 

The same exercise was had in thirds, sixths, ninths, 
twelfths, and the pupils were led to work with these frac- 
tions themselves ; that is, "do," not only "see" or "hear." 
It was a great pleasure to observe the little Dutch boys and 
girls " do " fractions. Their cheeks glowed with excitement, 
and they noticed the stranger as little as did the teacher. 

When, after singing a pretty little song, they were dis- 
missed, I inquired of the teacher how long he would use this 
device. " Only a few times," was the reply, " for it would 
weaken the children's comprehension, or rather their power 
of thinking, to have the objects always before them. It is 
my intention to lead the pupils from the object to its symbol 
as soon as possible. But if I were to use the symbols— that 
is, the figures— at once, without the objects they represent, 
I should be putting the cart before the horse. To-day, 
the children learned by actual observation that |=f=f, 
etc. To-morrow, they will learn to write these fractions 
while having this device before them. The next day will 
bring easy combinations, both in fact and in figures. 
Thus, I think, in a week they will handle with ease and ac- 
curacy simple fractions, such as are illustrated by these 
boards. And then is the time when I shall put the device 
away. But I mean to build on solid rock, on a firm basis of 
sense-perception. " 

" Did you invent this contrivance ? " 

" Oh, bless your soul, no ! It was invented by a Japanese 
schoolmaster, and our commissioner to the New Orleans Ex- 
position brought the idea to us. He saw the device in the 
Japanese school exhibit." 

" Have you had special preparation for the profes- 
sion ? " 

" Yes, sir ; I am a graduate of the Royal Normal School, 
at ," 



216 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

3. Mental Arithmetic everywhere. 

The great advantages of the metric system in the teach- 
ing of arithmetic are obvious everywhere here in Germany. 
Arbitrary measures, such as ours, are a hindrance in school. 
Pound, gallon, bushel, yard, etc., all have a different number 
of parts, while the division in tens, hundreds, thousands, 
makes reckoning remarkably easy. This enables the teacher 
to conduct mentally eighty per cent of all the practice in 
arithmetic. It is very interesting to see pupils of the third 
and fourth school years use numbers mentally which would 
take our pupils' breath away. The latter can not handle the 
arbitrary mcrsures, such as yards and inches, gallons, quarts, 
and pints, bushels and pecks, pounds, ounces, and grains, 
etc., simply because the variety of divisions makes a num- 
ber of tables necessary whose committal goes "beyond the 
capacity of young pupils. 

As soon as the German child knows the notation and 
numeration up to 1,000, he is made to apply numbers to 
metres, litres, and grammes. The divisions are the same in 
all measures, namely, deka, hecto, and kilo, multiples of one, 
and deci, centi, and milli, parts of one. It is always 10, 100, 
1,000 of one, or yVi -jhot toVo ^^ C)ne. I assure my readers 
that only one half-hour daily is spent in arithmetic here, 
and that mostly in mental or oral arithmetic. In the fourth 
school year the chapter of " Fractions," both common and 
decimal, is completed, and the fifth school year takes up 
simple proportion, the so-called rule of three. In the sixth 
school year peixjentage and most of the business rules and 
mensuration are treated, things which with us are reserved 
for the eighth school year. 

I am fully aware that we can not help this, being ham- 
pered by the voluminous chapter on denominate numbers 
during the fourth and fifth school years. Here in Germany 
they do not treat that chaj^ter as a separate and highly 
important one. The pupils need not study tables, for the 
measures are taught right along with numeration and nota- 



TEACHING DECIMAL FRACTIONS. 217 

tion. As the pupil's horizon in notation widens, his knowl- 
edge of the measures increases. It is a fact that almost the 
entire ground in arithmetic gone over in the eight years' 
course of the American common school is here completed 
in six years. This is not astonishing, and must not be at- 
tributed to a greater intellectual power of the German chil- 
dren, for they are not as quick in perception and application 
as our shrewd American youth, but rather of a slow but sure 
kind. 

The reason is to be found solely in the use of the metric 
system and the prevalence of mental, or, more correctly 
speaking, of oral arithmetic. A third-year class in Duis- 
burg solved these problems in the twinkling of an eye : 
"One sack contained 5 kilogrammes, 7 hectogrammes, 3 
dekagrammes, and 8 grammes ; another 2 kilogrammes, 3 
dekagrammes, and 5 grammes. What was the weight of 
both ? " "A man divided 21 marks, 25 pennies, equally 
among five boys. What was each boy's share ? " And it 
was done without the aid of pen or pencil. 

Much of what we teach in our American schools under 
the captivating title of business rules is prohibited here by 
the regulations laid down by the Minister of Instruction ; 
as, for instance, compound interest,- stocks and bonds, taxes, 
exchange, etc. The course prescribed is eminently practical, 
to say the least, and much may be learned from it. 

4. Teaching Decimal Fractions. 

Teachers in countries that have adopted the metric sys- 
tem have an advantage over American teachers in this, that 
they have at their disposal means for illustrating which we 
can not apply. While our measures— foot-rule, yard-stick, 
etc.— are very convenient for illustrating common fractions 
(twelve and thirty-six being oftener divisible than ten), the 
metre is the ideal means for illustrating decimal fractions. 

In H I observed a teacher introduce the subject of 

decimal fractions to, what seemed to me, very young pu- 
pils. First, he reviewed numeration : " Ten ones make one 



218 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 



ten. Ten is the tenfold of one. Ten tens make a hundred. 
A hundred is the tenfold of ten, and the hundred-fold of 
one " ; etc. " One place farther to the left increases the 
value of the digit tenfold ; one place farther to the right de- 
creases it to the tenth part. As the tens are obtained from 
the hundred by dividing by ten, and the one from ten by 
dividing by ten, so the fractions are obtained in the same 
way. Thus, by dividing one by ten, we get ten tenths, 

and, by dividing one 

ONE PART. ONE METER. tenth thus, we obtain 

I I ten hundredths, etc. 

This was further il- 
lustrated by using 
the " metre and its 
divisions." 

A metre-measure 
(pardon the tautolo- 
gy) was sketched on 
the board in "life-size." It was made three times, as the 
cut shows. 

The children knew that 1 metre =10 decimetres. So the 
teacher made them see and say that 1 decimetre =yV metre. 
Similar expressions had preceded when common fractions 
were treated. But the teacher was very thorough in his 
mode of procedure. He now made the pupils see, say, and 
write as follows : 



TEN PARTS. DECIMETERS. 



HUNDRED PARTS. CENTIMETERS. 

immii I mil rnrni 

Fig. 187. 



1 dm. 

2 dm. 

3 dm. 
9 dm. 

10 dm. 



= To- m. 

= "1% m., etc. 

= iV m. 

= n m. = 1 m. 



fo m. = 1 dm. 
-,% m. = 2 dm. 
"1% m. — 3 dm., etc. 
-1% m. = 9 dm. 



Then exercises like these followed : 
2 m. 1 dm. = 2-i^ m. 
2 m. 2 dm. = 2yu m. and so forth to 2yq m. 

When this was sufficiently practiced, the decimal nota- 
tion was introduced. They knew, from preceding exercises, 



ARITHMETIC IN A VILLAGE SCHOOL. 219 

that every place fartlier to the right would decrease the digit 
to the tenth part. Now they were asked to write : 

2 m. 1 dm. = 2^- m. or 2.1 m. 
2 m. 2 dm. = 2-i% m. or 2.2 m. 
2 m. 3 dm. = 2^o m- or 2.3 m. 

The use of the decimal point was not necessary to explain, 
it having been taught in connection with notation of marks^ 
groschen, and pennies, as is done in our country with 
dollars, dimes, and cents. The result of this lesson is that 5 
metres 6 decimetres may be written 5.6m., just as 5 marks 6 
groschen may be written M.S. 6. 

Now the hundredths were treated like the tenths by writ- 
ing whole strings and columns of common fractions. Thus 
the centimetre was brought in : 

1 cm. = 1^0 dm. = j^ m. joo ™- = "i^o ^^- — ^ ^^' 

2 cm. = 1% dm. = j^q m. -jIq m. = 1% dm. = 2 cm. 

3 cm. = 1% dm. = tBo ^^' Too ni. = 1% dm. = 3 cm. 

Then followed again : 

3 m. 4 dm. 1 cm. = 3 m. 4^0 dm. or 3.41 m. 
3 m. 4 dm. 2 cm. = 3 m. 4-iSo dm. or 3.42 m. 

Again, notation of money was made use of. Thus they 
wrote 5 mark, 4 groschen, 3 pennies=M.5.43. 

There was nothing startlingly new, if anything new at 
all, in this lesson. I sketch it for the sole purpose of show- 
ing that familiarity with the metric tables will assist in the 
teaching of decimal fractions. If there was anything else 
in this lesson which commended itself to me, it was the sys- 
tematic and thorough treatment. There was no skipping, 
no jumping at conclusions, but a steady movement which 
reminded me of Nature's own unhurried manner of growth. 

5. Arithmetic in a Village School. 

After having roamed about the Siebengebirge (the seven 
mounts, a little way up the Rhine from the university town 
Bonn) and thoroughly enjoyed the views, we concluded to 



220 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

inspect the school of a hamlet not six miles distant from the 
summit of the " Drachenfels," and visible from there. The 
reader of my " Chips," perhaps knows that the writer has 
a singularly keen eye for defects in school- wook, a quality 
which amounts to a fault, where it should be an object to 
see "naught but good." Well, we had seen Dutch, French, 
and German city schools, schools mostly in populous cities, 
and were so deeply impressed with the excellence of the 
work done in them that the perverse spirit of envy made us 
long to see something to criticise severely. The school in 
the hamlet mentioned, we thought, would prove to be, like 
that of an American backwoods settlement, primitive in the 



Fig. 188. 

extreme. But we were greatly mistaken. What we saw 
was admirable work. 

One device particularly struck me, since I had advocated 
its use myself in the educational press of America. It was 
the use oi paper squares of uniform size (six inches), but of 
different colors. These squares were perforated like sheets 
of postage-stamps, but so as to divide them into different 
parts, such as halves, thirds, fourths, etc. In order not to 
be misunderstood, I will sketch them (see Fig. 188). The 



ARITHMETIC IN A VILLAGE SCHOOL. 221 

squares were used to illustrate fractions, and both teacher 
and pupils were liberally supplied with them. They had 
been procured at a paper-mill, and cut and perforated by a 
printer. 

The pupils learned the process of reduction ascending and 
descending" very rapidly. The terms of |- multiplied by 2 
gave I, and it was done by folding the sheet of thirds so 
that each third was folded to make two of six equal parts of 
the whole. The opposite way was just as easily shown. 

The squares were of different color: halves, fourths, 
eighths, and sixteenths were pink; thirds, sixths, ninths, etc., 
green ; fifths and tenths, yellow. This afforded an instant 
selection of the proper sheet when a problem was given out. 
The paper had the thickness of ordinary writing-paper, and 
the pupils could write on it with pencil or ink. 

One problem particularly interested me, since the pupils 
received no help whatever in its solution. I had given it 
out myself, prompted by a spirit of mischief. Example : 
Multiply I by ^. A few seconds sufficed for the brighter 
pupils to do the work in paper and on paper. Being asked 
to select a pupil to demonstrate this problem, I selected a 
sleepy-looking youngster, who arose, and much to my sur- 
prise turned to me, saying: 

" You can not multiply by a fraction, since multiplying 
means repeating. You can not repeat fewer times than once ; 
I not being even 1, it is clear that you meant to say ^ of f . 
Now take a sheet of twelfths." I did. "Fold 
^ under, leaving f of the sheet visible." I did. 
"Now fold the | into four equal strips. By 
thus dividing f , you also divide the third third 
folded under. You really divide each third 
into fourths, or the whole sheet into twelfths." 
I did as indicated in the margin (Fig. 189). " Then ^ of f 
equals ^ or ^." Thus spoke the youth, and sat down. 

My admiration grew when examples in division were 
solved. The teacher, a thorough master of his profession, did 
little talking, but instead, permitted the children to work 





"^ 


"^ 


1 








1 


j 



222 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

with hands, brains, and lips, not caring to repress whispering-, 
knowing that this was the inevitable attendant of earnest 
work. The school was a regular country school. It con- 
tained about forty pupils of all ages between six and thir- 
teen, nicely graded in four grades. 

6. A Lesson in Botany. 

My companion and I had missed the Rhine steamer one 
day, and were obliged to stay overnight at the foot of a 
vine-clad hill, on top of which one of the grandest piles of 
ruins — that of a feudal castle— spoke louder than any orator 
could of the victory of modern ideas over feudalism, and of 
civil virtue over absolutism. It was a pretty little town 
where we were thus detained, and we enjoyed the night's 
rest at a quaint old inn, where we had the best attention pos- 
sible ; indeed, the landlord took great care to make us feel at 
home. I had spent several days at the gorgeous Kimball 
House in Atlanta, in the Palmer House in Chicago, and 
other costly hotels in the Union, where the rates were six- 
teen to twenty marks a day, and had not enjoyed the con- 
veniences which here were offered for three marks. The 
steamer was due at one o'clock, and so we found our way 
to the school-house as a duck finds its way to the water. 

The house was as quaint-looking as the town. It had 
low ceilings, small windows, and was poorly ventilated, but 
somehow the thought that perhaps a score of generations 
of children had been educated in this building mitigated our 
disgust. My faithful companion made friends with the 
schoolmaster's wife, who was trimming vines in the garden, 
and I began to mine for methods. I praise my good luck 
for having missed the steamer. The teacher of the '' upper 
class " gave a botany-lesson. Botany was something I had 
not had occasion to " see," and I determined to get the most 
out of that lesson. 

The teacher explained to me privately that, when he had 
been young, botany had always " given him the creeps," he 
had so abhorred the deadening influence of learning tech- 



A LESSON IN BOTANY. 223 

nical terms, and classifying plants and flowers according to 
the Linnaean system. When he was appointed to this place, 
he determined to make botany liked by his pupils. In order 
to understand the situation, the reader must remember that 
this was an elementary school, not a high-school. 

The pupils were plentifully provided with leaves which, 
according to directions, they had gathered on their way to 
school. Now they learned to classify the leaves according 
to their edges. It was interesting to notice how skillfully 
the teacher combined with this botany-lesson (a) spelling, (6) 
language, (c) drawing. He enlarged the pupils' vocabulary 
by placing on the board every new word used ; then it was 
spelled, and then copied into the note-book under the draw- 
ing or sketch made, which served as illustration. 

Not a single Latin technical term was employed, all were 
German, and that struck me as eminently wise. Such words 
as serratum, dentatum, crenatum, repantum, sinuatum, 
ciliatum, mean nothing to the children. You may as well 
say setarum for serratum, it is all the same to them. But if 
called " saw-like, tooth-like, notch-like, slope-like, bay-like," 
etc., the words convey a meaning. Ideas arising from such 
instruction abide in the memory, because they are, as it 
were, the organic growth and outcome of sense-perception. 
Catch me using the outlandish botanical names again in 
schools below the high-school ! I won't do it ! 

This is the way the teacher proceeded : He selected a 
number of leaves, the edges of which were all " saw-like," 
and then sketched them on the board. There were four dif- 
ferent kinds. Of the fourth kind no sample could be fur- 
nished, so he had to reproduce it from memory, but every 
pupil nodded, indicating thereby that he had seen it some- 
where. The German technical terms were added, spelled, 
copied (as were the sketches), and then the momentous ques- 
tion arose, what plants have this kind of leaves, say " fine 
saw-edged," or '' double saw-edged leaves ? " 

These facts were added to the notes already taken. 
When an honest difference of opinion arose between two 
IG 



224 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

pupils, the teacher asked them to go into the garden and 
determine who was right. In a few moments they returned 
with specimens, which set the matter at rest. 








^^>^h/'V\^ 



SAW-EDGED. 



TOOTH-EDGEa 



r NOTCH-EDGED. 



SLOPE-EDGED. 
BAY-EDGED. 



FRINGE-EDGED. 



Fig. 190. 



r fine, 
sharp. 

pointed. 

^ double. 

double, 
coarse, 
fringed, 
^ thorny, 

pointed, 
round, 

fine. 
^ double. 




After the saw-edged leaves had been disposed of, the 
tooth-edged ones came up for a hearing, then the notch- 
edged followed, and so on through the whole list. In one 
thing the teacher acted masterly. He made the pupils sug- 



LEARNING TO DO BY DOING. 225 

gest technical terms, and usually the right term was among 
the ones suggested ; then he quickly reviewed all, and by de- 
grees made the pupils see why that particular term was the 
best to select. Of course, it found the sanction of the class 
and was adopted. It took about an hour before the end of 
the lesson was reached. At the close of the lesson I was 
invited to pass through the aisles with him, and have a peep 
at the work done by the pupils. 

Well, I must pronounce it very creditable work on the 
whole, far exceeding my expectations. I selected the work 
of a sweet-looking, modest girl, and requested her to let me 
copy it for my readers in America. She looked startled, 
when I explained I would set an artist to work to make an 
engraving which I would have printed. What a beam of 
joy shone forth from those dark-blue eyes ! And the teacher 
was as happy as a rare, a very rare, word of appreciation and 
commendation could make him. He suggested that Louise 
might cut this leaf out of her book and present it to me, so as 
to save me the trouble of copying it. Readily the request 
was granted, and the above is the work, dear reader. I cut 
off the German technical words and substitute their literal 
translation in English. I was invited to stay and hear other 
lessons, but I declined, because I had to return to the hotel, 
get a dinner, and be ready for the steamer. 

7. Learning to do by Doing. 

I struck " a gold-mine in the cellar," or something very 
much like it, the other day. When entering a German 
school I found the teacher giving a botany-lesson. The art 
of sketching quickly was here developed to a high degree. 
I begged to be allowed to take some of the sketches made by 
pupils for the purpose of having them cut in wood and thus 
presenting them to American readers. The request was 
readily granted. 

These leaves were studied, named, classified, and then 
drawn from nature. Some of them are, perhaps, not abso- 
lutely correct, but they are remarkably " life-like." The pu- 



226 



FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 




Figs. 191-201. 



TEACHING COMPOSITION. 227 

pils of this school can talk in pictures better, perhaps, than 
in words, and they are induced and urged to sketch quite 
frequently. Scarcely a lesson is given without some oppor- 
tunity for sketching. It was amusing to see a boy called 
upon to recite, seize a pencil, and, while talking, assist his 
demonstration by a few sketchy lines. 

The curriculum of this school does not contain a course 
in drawing which necessitates the use of drawing-books ; 
but from the primer class through all the stages of the cur- 
riculum drawing is a medium of recitation just as talking 
and writing are. To give an outline of the lessons in botany 
I heard, and of which the accompanying sketches of leaves 
are results, would be useless, since they difiPer in no way from 
rational lessons given in our schools in America. I hope 
sincerely that the reader will consider these sketches worthy 
of his attention. They will speak louder than many columns 
of text. 

8. Teaching Composition. 

In many schools of Germany I find a consistent course 
prescribed for exercises in composition. Instead of detail- 
ing this course, I prefer to state the principle upon which it 
is based. It starts with the presumption that one can not 
prepare a good beef -soup without meat or without a soup- 
bone — that is to say, thoughts must be at hand to express 
thoughts. The dressing of the thoughts may vary in differ- 
ent compositions, like the flavor of the soups in different 
pots. Individual tastes and available means decide that. 
Hence all practice in composition -writing in the upper 
grades is based upon some thought-bearing study— that is to 
say, each composition is a summary, an extract, as it were, 
of some lesson given in geography, history, botany, zoology, 
physics, etc. Yea, even arithmetic offers suitable subjects 
for composition. A perfect analysis of a problem worked 
out orally is sometimes fixed in writing, and the teacher 
thus hits two flies with one stroke — he flxes in the minds of 
his pupils a logical train of mathematical thought and as- 
sists language by exercising it. 



228 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

Sucti a composition lesson is not a terror, as it is so fre- 
quently in schools where compositions are required without 
the wherewithal to make them. Abstract topics are no bet- 
ter than no thoughts and topics at all. They tell a disgust- 
ing story of the women in a tenement-house in Paris. One 
of them called to her neighbor across the court-yard to lend 
her her ham-bone for a soup. Her sick husband was " mor- 
tally bad " that morning and needed something strong. The 
answer came that Madame Somebodyelse had borrowed it, 
but as soon as it was returned it would be at madame's dis- 
posal ! Every time I see an attempt at making compositions 
on abstract topics foreign to the children's range of thought 
or at making compositions without a plentiful array of facts, 
that ham-bone occurs to my mind. Whether these German 
teachers ever heard that ham-bone story is immaterial. One 
thing is certain, their pupils make compositions upon sub- 
jects with which they are familiar and express thoughts 
which, if they are not their own originally, at least have 
become their own by mental digestion and assimilation. 

The pupils learn the use of capital letters and punctua- 
tion-marks, headings, and paragraphs, etc., by studying these 
difficulties in their readers. Sometimes a perfect piece is 
put on the board, and all the paraphernalia of composition 
are carefully reviewed — why a comma is placed then and 
there, why a paragraph here, why a capital there, and so on. 
One day — it was in a school of Thuringia — I found an old 
joke of mine (I mean a joke that I had used often). On the 
board was placed the following stanza, without punctuation- 
marks : 

There is a lady in our land 

Who has ten nails on every hand 

Five and twenty on hands and feet 

All this is true and no deceit 

The children were allowed to laugh at these lines to their 
hearts' content, until one of them suddenly stopped laugh- 
ing, grew sober, and raising his hand said, " Teacher, I know 
how to make it right." The teacher allowed him to do it, 



TEACHING COMPOSITION. 229 

and, quickly stepping forward, he punctuated the lines 

thus: 

There is a lady in our land 

Who has ten nails, on every hand 

Five, and twenty on hands and feet. 

All this is true and no deceit. 

It was a pleasure to see the disappointment of those who 
" hadn't seen it " and the triumphant mien of him who had. 
The lines were allowed to remain on the board during" the 
lesson, as a memento of the importance of punctuation- 
marks. 

Wherever in Germany I listened to a lesson in history, 
botany, or some other thought - bearing (hence thought- 
awakening) study, the teacher wound up by saying, " Now 
write out an account of this lesson." This was done in the 
class-room or at home as circumstances determined. The 
composition-books I saw gave evidence of the fertility of 
this kind of instruction. Not every composition written or 
prepared is entered in the composition-book. Many are 
merely written on the slate or on a slip of paper ; but weekly, 
at least, one is recorded on the pages of the blank book. I 
saw but one school in which this was overdone, namely, in 
which a composition was wi'itten in the book every day. 

It seems to be a rule here to correct the written work of 
the puj)ils with red ink; but most teachers have adopted the 
universally known proof-reader's marks, which not only 
simplify the work of the corrector, but also require of the 
pupil to do the actual correcting himself. 

As to the course, I only need to say that it begins with 
copying and dictation work in the two lowest grades. Then 
follows free reproduction of given models, such as fables. 
Thus by degrees the power of producing is strengthened, un- 
til at the close of the sixth or seventh year's course the pu- 
pils are well trained in giving an account of a story they 
read, or write out a description of a scene or a phenomenon 
they saw, or reproduce a train of thoughts developed during 
a lesson. I could give my readers a very convincing proof 



230 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

of the good results of this work by copying a few of the 
compositions from the books I inspected ; but even the least 
skeptical of my patient readers might suspect me of having 
selected exceptionally good work. Besides that, as a matter 
of self-evidence, I should have to render them in English, 
and I am afraid I am unable to imitate their " pristine youth 
and beauty." Cause enough, therefore, to resist the tempta- 
tion ; but let me ask my colleagues to try the experiment of 
making bouillon of a soup-bone with marrow in it and a 
good deal of meat on it. 

9. Criterion of a Model Lesson. 

In " Lehrproben und Lehrgaenge " (a publication, men- 
tioned elsewhere in this book) a number of questions are of- 
fered by a normal-school teacher, which with their laudable 
conciseness may serve as test-questions for any teacher who 
does not consider himself finished and has not acquired that 
self-sufficiency which is the arch-foe of all progress. I will 
render the article in English, hoping to meet the approval 
of teachers who work in isolation and desire a reliable stand- 
ard of measurement : 

I. Selection and Arrangement of the Matter of Instruc- 
tion. 

1. Did the amount of matter stand in proper proportion 
to the given time ? 

2. Was the matter sifted sufficiently, arranged in method- 
ical unities, and well distributed ? 

3. Was the disposition apparent and transparent ? 
II. Mode of Treatment {Method). 

1. Was a consistent and suitable method pursued ? 

a. In preparing the new by organic connection with pre- 
vious cognitions ? 

h. In bringing forward the new by developing it from 
the old ? 

c. In bringing it to a clear comprehension by means of 
assimilation, proofs, consolidation, and review ? 

d. In applying it by practice and inculcation ? 



DRAWING IN GERMAN SCHOOLS. 231 

2. Was the matter offered objectively, developed logical- 
ly, worked out systematically, practiced sufficiently, infixed 
firmly ? 

3. Was the teacher's mode of forming questions correct ? 
Did he apply the principle of consolidation — that is, did he 
establish points of connection with other domains of knowl- 
edge ? Did he distribute his questions well among his pu- 
pils ? 

III. Personality of the Teacher. 

1. What was the teacher's attitude ? Was he vigorous, 
animating, lively, without injuring his dignity ? 

2. Did he govern his class with the power of his eyes and 
his voice, or did he have to resort to " heroic means " ? 

3. Was his language correct, well articulated, distinct, 
and used sparingly ? His reading perfect ? 

IV. Discipline. 

1. Did the teacher employ the whole class ? 

2. Did he question only the better pupils, or did he give 
too much of his time and energy to the weaklings ? 

3. Did he employ proper means, such as pauses, speaking 
in chorus, rising, bodily exercises, to refresh the attention ? 

4. Did he correct errors or transgressions of his pupils, or 
did he leave them unnoticed ? 

V. General Results and Impressions of the Lesson. 

1. Was a decided gain noticeable in the pupils — that is 
to say, was it obvious that the pupils had profited by the les- 
son ? 

2. Did the teacher show improvement in teaching and in 
discipline ? 

3. Did the lesson appear to be a " chance lesson," or was 
it well prepared ? 

10. Drawing in German Schools. 

Whenever I had the chance of inspecting the instruction 
in drawing and its results, I took especial pains to inquire 
into the methods applied. Not often did I get the chance. 
Oh, yes, results evidently touched up by the teacher, were 



232 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

readily shown, but rarely did I see a drawing-class in op- 
eration. It is natural, thougli, for according to the old 
proverb, it is " A fool who shows half-finished work." I sus- 
pect Superintendent Bright, of Englewood (Chicago), 111., 
sketched the truth in bold, conspicuous outlines, when he 
said : '' The children make their drawings, and we revise 
them. Then they draw again, and we revise. Then they 
draw again. Then we marshal ourselves before the super- 
intendent of drawing and await our turns like candidates at 
a barber-shop, in order that our re- revisions may be revised 
by the highest authority. Then the children take another 
turn at the drawing." I know that to have been the case in 
Cincinnati, and, since the weaknesses of mankind are about 
the same everywhere, I could fully appreciate the Euro- 
pean teachers' hesitancy to give drawing-lessons in my 
presence. But a little obstinate insisting prevailed, and I 
can now judge upon the methods applied. In several cit- 
ies I found the old copying process in vogue — that is, flat- 
surfaced copies were set before the pupils, and they copied 
them, the work being corrected by the teacher, who passed 
slowly through the aisles. But there is a revolution going 
on in the teaching of drawing in the common schools of 
Germany as well as America, and I trust the movement will 
be successful. 

In several schools of Ehenish Prussia I found the old 
method discarded contemptuously, and drawing or sketch- 
ing " from nature " substituted. It was not done heedlessly, 
but with a methodical skill truly admirable. I have neither 
time nor inclination (the space of a book would be needed) 
to explain minutely the first steps taken ; suffice it to say 
that very simple geometrical bodies, such as cube, pyramid, 
cone, cylinder, sphere, etc., are placed before the class, and 
each child is made to draw the object as he sees it, which 
affords a great variety of views. The objects are made of 
different materials, some of pasteboard, many of wood 
painted white, a few of plaster, or even of china. 

In one school (in the province of Westphalia, east of 



DRAWING IN GERMAN SCHOOLS. 



233 



Hhenish Prussia, where I stayed a few days with an old 
schoohnate of mine) I found this system of sketching 
'' from nature " perfected to a high degree. I sketched some 
of the objects in the order in which they were used there for 
the benefit of my readers (Figs. 202-209). These were made 
of wood. They are imitations of plant-stems : 




Figs. 20^-209. 



The following objects (Figs. 210-216) were made of milk- 
glass or china, and are characteristic forms of blossoms : 





Figs. 210-216. 




It was remarkable to see the results exhibited in port- 
folios and spread out for inspection. I could scarcely re- 
press my envy, when I compared such results with the 
abortive endeavors of the pupils under the deadening influ- 



2S4: TROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

ence of the copying system in vogue in America. In a 
primary school— fourth school year — the teacher had a num- 
ber of leaves which he exhibited and then sketched on the 
blackboard, showing the differences in form, and conven- 
tionalizing them as he proceeded. I was so charmed with 











Figs. 217-230. 



his skillful treatment that I sat down among the youngsters 
and sketched like a good little boy. I showed my work to 
the teacher— like the other little boys— and was gently 
praised for it. Oh, the fun that caused among the children ! 
I submit the result of the lessons (Figs. 217-230). 



DRAWING IN GERMAN SCHOOLS. 235 

What a splendid preparation for the study of botany ! 
What a beneficial awakening of the sense of form ! What 
an opportunity for obtaining skill in the use of the utensils ! 
I can well understand why I find such a decided opposition 
among German teachers against industrial schools as spe- 
cial schools. They bend all their energy upon making 
their common schools the best on earth, and are willing, 
nay, eager, to adapt and adopt whatever of industrial pur- 
suits can be adapted to and adopted in their course of study. 

All branches of study which may have a practical bear- 
ing upon life are made to reflect life. Thus, not only draw- 
ing, but geography, is made practical, the latter by imagina- 
tive journeys. Putty and clay are used to mold geographical 
formations in imitation of nature. Mensuration is made 
both attractive and practical by handling geometrical bodies, 
not merely by imagining them. They are made of paste- 
board, and are home-made by the pupils — another opportu- 
nity for manual occupation. Kindergarten occupations I 
find in almost general use in the lower grades. Of course, 
much more advanced work is done — in modeling, for in- 
stance — than is done in a Kindergarten. 

In composition work I find letters, notes, bills, receipts, 
petitions, etc., written, such as the pupils maybe called upon 
to write after leaving school. Arithmetic is taught ration- 
ally, and the problems have bearings upon the child's every- 
day experience. In one school a lesson in buying and sell- 
ing greatly interested me. One boy was made storekeeper, 
and great glee was occasioned by an error he made whereby 
he lost a few pennies while making change. This lesson 
was an object-lesson, it was a language-lesson, a lesson in 
arithmetic, a composition and reading lesson — it was all that 
and more; it was something which organically connected 
school-work with life's demands. 

Among all the schools I have visited so far — and I saw 
some in France, some in Holland and Germany — I am ready 
to pronounce those of Lower Rhenish Prussia the most ad- 
vanced in methods and results. But it is perhaps too soon to 



236 FROM VAPJOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

discriminate, having really only begun my tour. I may 
greatly change my opinion after having seen the famous 
schools of Berlin and the kingdom of Saxony. 

I must not burden these pages with reflections upon po- 
litical and social questions, or with impressions gained by 
traveling through this continent, much as I should like to, 
for I am here for a purpose, and these articles are written 
for a purpose, not to speak of the amiable reader's disincli- 
nation to read a guide-book. I think it due to myself to 
state this fact. 

11. Drawing in a Country School. 

The teacher of a small country school I visited in Ger- 
many seemed to be an inventive genius of no mean kind, 
for home-made appliances of various kinds on shelves and 
on the walls, on desks and window-sills, gave evidence of it 
as well as of a skill in workmanship not to be despised. I 
noticed a number of geometrical objects (cubes, pyramids, 
cones, etc.), made of white pasteboard, and asked whether he 
taught geometry. " No, sir," said he ; " these are used in 
drawing." 

My curiosity being aroused, I asked him to show me how. 
He began a drawing-lesson which would have been a revela- 
tion to many teachers who follow one of the established sys- 
tems of copying from the flat-surfaced copy. The pupils did 
the work on slates ; drawing-books seemed to be non est. 
The teacher placed a pyi'amid before the class and asked 

the pupils to draw 
one side of it. They 
drew a triangle rap- 
idly but very neat- 
FiG 231 ~ ^y- Then the teach- 

er said, "Complete 
the figure as you see ity These (Fig. 231) are some of the 
results as I sketched them in my note-book : 

Each pupil seeing the object from a diflPerent point of 
view, no two figures were alike, but each was a correct sketch 




DRAWING IN A COUNTRY SCHOOL. 



237 



of the object from the point from which the pupil who drew 
it had viewed it. 

Then a cube was placed before the class, and the pupils 
drew first one face — that is, either a square or a parallelo- 
gram, according to the pupil's position. After that, the 
other visible faces of the cube were drawn, as each pupil saw 
them. These (Fig. 232) are a few of the results : 



^ 




Fig. 232. 



Then a truncated cone was drawn. Of course, the figure 
in the first position was alike in all cases, until the cone was 
placed in different positions. Here (Fig. 233) are some of 
the sketches I saw : 




Fig. 233. 



Now a disk followed (Fig. 234) in different positions: 




Fig. 234. 



After that followed a wheel, a cart, a box, a table, and 
the lesson closed with the drawing of a house. This was 
drawn from dictation (Fig. 235), Thus : "Draw a rectangu- 
lar figure." "Complete a block by drawing the right and 
top face." "Put on an overhanging roof, and erase super- 
fluous lines." "Add a kitchen to your house in the rear." 
" Put on a chimney, and provide the house with doors and 



238 J^'ROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

windows.'' "Place a tree and a pump where you please." 
I copied the work of a sweet-looking, flaxen-haired girl as 
minutely and as accurately as I could do it on a small scale, 
and here it is : 




Fig. 265. 



I do not wish to add any reflections, sorely tempted as I 
am at this point, but I must say that the pupils did this work 
with great accuracy and skill, and that they seemed to enjoy 
doing it. The slate-pencil lines were easily erased in case 
they proved inaccurate. In order to get a clear view of the 
object before him, the pupil would shut one eye and keenly 
" eye " the object before he drew the lines. 

" Can these pupils sketch from memory ? " I asked. 
"Yes," was the reply, "if the objects are not too compli- 
cated." ''Then let them draw a candlestick or a lamp." It 
was done. The figures exhibited were different from each 
other, some were faulty in perspective, but all represented 
unmistakable candlesticks, or lamps, as the case might be. 
Other objects were called for, and a few seconds sufficed to 
sketch them. Then the teacher asked for forms of leaves 
and flowers, but I noticed that he refrained from calling for 
forms of animals. Justly so, I thought ; for the results so 
far shown proved to be more than satisfactory for a country 
school in a remote mountain hamlet. 



COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE. 239 

This little school appeared to me a real gold-mine of 
devices and methods for illustrating, and I may return to it. 

12. Compulsory Attendance. 

Except those in Hamburg, I have not yet seen any other 
than Prussian schools in Germany, but have reason to be- 
lieve that what I say here holds good in all other German 
states also. The daily register of attendance in Prussian 
schools is a valuable legal instrument ; in fact, it makes the 
schoolmaster a power in the state. Careful keeping of this 
register is a necessity for the teacher, not on account of the 
reports he has to make to superintendents or inspectors, for 
very few statistical reports are made in these schools, but 
with this daily register stands or falls the law regarding 
compulsory attendance. 

Whenever a pupil is marked absent for a week, inquiry 
is made as to the causes. If a valid excuse is given, well 
and good. But if a willful absence is noticed, or the par- 
ents' authority proves inadequate, or if the parents them- 
selves have taken it into their heads to defy the law by 
sending their child to the factory before he is thirteen 
years old, the teacher reports the case to the police authori- 
ties with an exact statement of the number of days of ab- 
sence, and there is no "going behind the returns." 

The father is summoned before the police court and is 
called upon to explain. If no satisfactory explanation is 
forthcoming, the father is fined. This fine is increased 
twice in cases of backsliding, and finally ends in imprison- 
ment. 

The school law, I understand, makes the limit of com- 
pulsory attendance eight months per year, between the ages 
of six and thirteen. If there is a case found of inability to 
send children to school, owing to extreme poverty, the state 
or community provides for necessaries, such as clothes, 
shoes, books, etc. In cases of defective parental authority, 
the boys are sent to reform-schools. In cases of worthless- 
ness, such as a drunkard father, the police authorities, of 
17 



240 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

which the justice of the peace is one, give the children into 
custody of guardians, who act in loco parentis for a nominal 
remunei'ation, provided for either by the state or local be- 
nevolent societies. The law of compulsory education works 
so successfully that in Rhenish Prussia not three tenths of one 
per cent of the young men called in for military service are 
found to be illiterate. Verily, the whole nation is a school ! 

13. Home-made Apparatus. 

We have certainly made commendable progress in our 
common schools, especially in some educational centers. Dr. 
Seeley is quite right in saying that the whole foundation of 
our common school is adapted to carry a greater, loftier, and 
more substantial structure than that of the German school. 
But there are certain features in German schools which are 
worthy of imitation. We have unquestionably developed 
our graded school systems in cities to a high degree, but the 
country schools, to be candid, are in a lamentable state of 
deficiency. 

How different in Prussia, and I suspect in other German 
states, where the country school is doing excellent work, 
owing to the fact that every teacher employed is either a 
graduate of a normal school or college, or has during a 
searching examination, conducted by the faculty of a normal 
school in presence of the school inspector of the province 
or state, proved and demonstrated that he has not only the 
required knowledge, but also the ability to teach clearly ! 
Nowhere among the four great civilized nations is the busi- 
ness of education in country schools pursued with such utter 
lack of systematic preparation, with such complete, unsym- 
pathizing, self-dependent isolation of efforts as with us in 
America. And I say this advisedly, for I have seen enough 
country schools in Ohio and other States, and observed their 
fruit when sent to the city schools " to be finished," to know 
whereof I speak. 

It is with an unpleasant sensation, bordering on en^^, 
that I observe how many village schools here in Germany 



HOME-MADE APPARATUS. 



241 



are supplied with an outfit for object-lessons in natural his- 
tory, physics, etc. Many teachers, for want of means to 
purchase, make their own contrivances, and an apparatus 
thus procured gives to the instruction an impetus which can 
not be overrated. I have in mind one particular school, in 
the neighborhood of Solingen, in which I found a book-case 
with glass doors filled with a set of physical apparatus as 
complete as seemed necessary for the scope of physics as a 
study can have in a country school. 

A few of the pieces had been bought or procured by a 
judicious exchange of " commodities," such as rare birds or 
plants, but most of them were made at home. The latter 
looked clumsy, but were very serviceable ; they were made 
of such material as was at the disposal of the maker. I 
desired to sketch the whole set, to show the ingenious skill 
of the maker, but gave up the task when I thought of the 
space it would take. Only two contrivances (see cuts below) 
may be shown. They were rudimentary hydrostatic presses 
made of materials indicated below : 





Figs. 236, 237. 
a, wood. 6, e, leather, 

c, brass rods, d, rubber tube. 
/, bowlder or weight. 



a, boards. 
c, bamboo. 



6, leather, 
d, tin funnel. 



e, rock or weight. 



Now, the impartial reader may compare this with the in- 
describable poverty of most of the country schools in Ohio 



242 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

or elsewhere, especially in the South, where school trustees 
not unfrequently refuse to provide the school with a black- 
board. Of course, every picture has its shadows, and so per- 
haps has this bright picture of a German country school. 
Not every country school here is as well supplied with an 
enthusiast as this one ; but, judging from the many fine 
specimens I have seen, it is reasonable to conclude as to all. 
I may safely say, without danger of being contradicted, that 
the average German teacher is imbued with professional 
spirit, with devotion, energy, and natural capacity deserving 
the most cordial praise. 

14. " Our Treasure-Box." 

In a school in Westphalia I found a cabinet of ebony- 
wood hanging on the wall. It was elaborately carved, 
and appeared to me a piece of exquisite workmanship. An 
inscription in gilt letters, " Our Treasure-Box," indicated 
rather obscurely what its object was. The teacher explained 
it to me. It contained the school registers of the last 
seventy years, the " day-book " or journal, the class com- 
position-book, the accounts of the school savings-bank, and 
sundry highly valued relics connected with the school's 
history. 

The journal is a book for daily entries of cases of disci- 
pline, meritorious cases of good behavior, and excellent 
work. The " primus " of the class, the best pupil in studies 
and conduct, has charge of it. The account-book of the 
school savings-bank is, in fact, the ledger of that institution. 
The teacher receives the funds in the form of x^ennies, takes 
charge of them, and receipts for them in the bank-books of 
the pupils. Every week he transfers the collected funds to 
the city bank, where the whole school has one account. The 
bank pays the teacher three per cent for sums left a year, 
while he pays two per cent interest to the pupils, thus giv- 
ing him an income of from fifteen to twenty dollars a year 
for this additional trouble. Any one who is acquainted 
with the low salaries paid to teachers in Germany will un- 



LOCAL SCHOOL MUSEUMS. 24:3 

derstand that twenty dollars additional income per year is 
an item not to be despised. 

But the class composition-book claimed my attention 
most. There was a novel idea, and I hasten to submit it to 
my readers. The school wi^ote a composition every week. 
The relatively best one was ordered to be copied into this 
class-book, which was thus made an incentive for the pupils 
to do good work. They would, as it were, immortalize them- 
selves on the leaves of this gilt-edged book. At the same 
time the book was a record of what the school did, not only 
in composition, but in all branches of study, for the subjects 
were chosen from the matter of instruction of object-lessons 
treated during the week. 

I saw some excellent penmanship in this book, and, con- 
sidering that these were childish efPorts at composition, I 
think them very commendable thoughts expressed in plain 
but clean garments. 

A lady of this town who did fine work in wood-carving, 
I was told, had presented this cabinet to the school, and was 
at the time at work in making a pendant to it which they 
would call "Our Medicine-Chest." The teacher meant to 
collect in it such medicines and chemicals as are likely to be 
used in cases of emergency. 

15. Local School Museums. 

The teacher who i)resides over a school in a small Ger- 
man town or village is a fixture, and naturally the custodian 
of the school museum. Most German schools have a muse- 
um — that is, a book-case or two full of books, and many 
shelves full of objects necessary for illustrating the instruc- 
tion in natural history, geography, physics, etc. 

There was a time in Germany when the principle of ob- 
ject-teaching electrified every schoolmaster from the Rhine 
to the Vistula and from the Baltic to the Alps. It was 
thought that objective teaching was the panacea for all edu- 
cational diseases. All order and system was abandoned, and 
objects were brought into the school-room till it looked like 



241 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

a pawnbroker's shop. No broken horseshoe was left lying 
in the street ; old boots were eagerly gathered for the leather 
they yielded ; no ant's hill was safe from the destructive 
hand that gathered ants' eggs, and the life of every snail in- 
nocently creeping across the road was imperiled. Every- 
thing was carried into school — animals, plants, and miner- 
als. There the objects that would keep were neatly labeled, 
numbered, classified, and stored up. 

The children had good times then. The paper boxes, 
moles' skeletons, minerals, stuffed birds, samples of wood, 
dried plants, and the like, went from hand to hand, and, to 
be sure, half a school-day was often passed in contemplating 
the treasures of the museum ; and the teacher quieted his 
conscience by thinking this to be an object-lesson. The chil- 
dren were also taken to observe the cabinet-maker ; they 
went to the locksmith's shop ; watched the shoemaker and 
tanner at their work; they " studied " all the different kinds 
of leather, wool, wood, cloth, and metal ; they knew the 
name of every tool — in short, they failed to see the woods 
on account of the multitude of trees ! 

Now, this was a craze. To-day the fever has abated con- 
siderably. A reaction followed, and to-day the school-chil- 
dren in some places have not the remotest idea how a mill 
or a foundry looks inside, how the weaver works, and the 
tanner and the furrier, etc. The museum in some schools 
has been moved to the garret, and all the many objects of 
interest lead a contemplative existence in closed boxes on 
shelves and under a cover of dust. 

If the teacher needs a mineral, or an air-pump, or the 
Leyden-jars, he is obliged to give a week's notice to the jani- 
tor, so that he may search for the objects and make them 
presentable. The swallow's nest and the ostrich-egg yawn 
at each other. The miniature plow rests securely in the lap 
of a miniature spinning-wheel, and both play the role of 
The Sleeping Beauty. The spiders have covered the mole's 
skeleton neatly with their fine threads, and the dust has 
changed the nets into a gray skin. To be sure, it is a dreary 



A PRUSSIAN NORMAL SCHOOL. 245 

spectacle. As the first wild craze was one extreme, this in- 
difference is the other. 

On the whole, it may be said that the pendulum swinging 
backward and forward is sure to come to rest at the point of 
a golden mean ; and, so long as the teachers are secure in 
their positions, the moss gathered in the form of museum 
collections for the benefit of rational objective teaching will 
accumulate. When I compare the utter absence of any- 
thing like museums or libraries in our schools, I heave a 
sigh; but, when I recollect the insecurity of position under 
which our teachers in America are suffering, I can see a 
complete chain of cause and effect. 

16. A Prussian Normal School. 

Introduction.— In previous articles I have taken pains to 
state repeatedly that the excellent results of the Prussian 
system of people's schools are to be attributed to the proper 
preparation of the teachers. The teachers' seminaries, or 
normal and training schools as we are accustomed to term 
them, are state institutions. With the exception of the Au- 
gusta School in Berlin and a few similar institutions else- 
where, they are for young men. Every one of the twelve 
provinces of Prussia (I am not speaking of other German 
states, though I suspect they follow the Prussian example) 
has a sufficient number of such special schools. They re- 
ceive their pupils from a limited number of preparatory 
schools such as I described in my letter from Cologne. All 
the seminaries in Prussia are following the same course of 
study. The central directive powder is found in a depart- 
ment of the Ministry of Public Instruction in Berlin. 

Most of these schools are situated in small towns of four to 
eight thousand inhabitants ; indeed, I know of none situated 
in a large city except the one in Berlin. The reason of this 
is found in the desire to keep the young would-be teachers 
free from the temptations of a large city. The schools are 
all boarding schools— that is, the students live in the school- 
building and are kept under rigid control all day long. 



246 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

Connected with the institution is a practice department, con- 
sisting of an entire school of six to eight grades, m all of 
which the students are expected to gain their experience in 
teaching. The course lasts three years, and is divided into 
an academic and a professional department. 

The Buildiyig. — I took occasion to thoroughly inspect 
such a normal school. In a quiet, sleepy little town, con- 
nected by railways with large industrial centers, the Gov- 
ernment had erected a large building with two spacious 
wings for the special purpose of giving the normal school of 
the district a suitable home. The structure is very fine, and 
reminds one of true American school architecture. It is 
large, handsome, commodious, well ventilated, and sur- 
rounded by extensive yards and gardens. The stairs and 
halls are covered with linoleum, the windows are generous, 
the walls delicately tinted, and the general session-room 
(used as a chapel) decorated with beautiful fresco borders and 
other ornaments. 

Altogether the building is a worthy habitation of a 
teachers' training-school, particularly because it impresses 
the students with a correct idea of what a good school-build- 
ing is or ought to be. 

Biblical History. — I passed a day in this school, and was 
well repaid for getting up at six o'clock A. M., on a raw 
winter day, traveling an hour on the railway, and call- 
ing on the rector before eight o'clock — that is, in time for 
opening school. The first lesson I heard was one in biblical 
history. The rector had announced on the previous day that 
he would give a model lesson to young pupils, in presence 
of the senior class of students. I begged of him not to 
change the programme. Indeed, it was a model lesson in 
more senses than he had understood that technical term. 
How I wished that lesson had been given in presence of 
a large class of American Sunday-school teachers ! Subject 
of the lesson was : The wise men from the East following 
the star and coming to Jerusalem to inquire of King Herod 
where the new-born King of the Jews might be found ; then 



A PRUSSIAN NORMAL SCHOOL. 247 

being told to go to Bethlehem, and there finding Jesus, giv- 
ing him their presents and worshiping him. 

The rector told the whole story in plain, unassuming 
words such as the little pupils could understand. By such 
simple means as describing the mode of traveling in the 
East ; the poor, modest dwelling of the Holy Family, etc., 
he succeeded in creating vivid mental pictures. Then he 
questioned the little ones on a part of the story, namely, on 
the journey to Jerusalem and the inquiries of Herod. The 
rector's skill in the art of questioning could not be adequate- 
ly conveyed except by a stenographic report. After this 
part of the story was well worked over, and every incident 
explained or called forth by leading questions, two pupils 
had to repeat the part, and they did it with singular faithful- 
ness as regards facts and expressions. Errors of speech 
w^ere corrected on the spot, but never in a humiliating way, 
nor so that the thread of the conversation was broken or 
tangled. 

Then the second part — Herod's inquiries, the mention of 
the prophet Micah, the journey to Bethlehem, and the find- 
ing of Jesus — followed. In this part of the story the insin- 
cerity of Herod and his evil intentions were dwelt upon, 
and a holy horror could be noticed on the faces of the 
youngsters when they heard that a king should so debase 
himself as to say one thing and mean another. Again, all 
the minute details of this part of the narrative were brought 
out by skillful questioning, and the answers were very faith- 
ful, both in regard to facts and expressions. Again, as be- 
fore, a review was had in connected repetition. 

The third part was treated likewise, and here the presents, 
gold, incense, and myrrh, gave rise to a pretty explanation, 
child-like but all-sufficient. When this part was repeated, a 
general review followed. One little boy told one part, 
another the second, a third the last ; and the singular faith- 
fulness with which they repeated whole sentences with al- 
most identically the same words could only be attributed to 
the consistency with which the rector had clung to these 



248 r^OM VARIOUS OTHEU PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

expressions all through the lesson. Then he wound up by 
showing a handsome, illustration in which the Holy Family, 
the wise men, the servants, the camels, the star, the presents, 
etc., were shown. This fixed every item of the whole story 
in the memory of the little ones. 

All through the masterly lesson the seniors sat apparently 
with bated breath, making notes now and then. When the 
little ones were dismissed, the students were questioned as to 
what they had heard. Object of the lesson, means employed, 
psychological references, methods, principles of method — 
I know not what words to use to give my readers an ade- 
quate idea of how that model lesson was dissected. The rec- 
tor gave the students free scope to express their judgment. 
It seemed to me that if any of these young men did not take 
away treasures of knowledge, of skill in handling a class, 
and methodical treatment of matter, it certainly was not the 
fault of the rector and his youngsters. 

Literature. — The second lesson I heard was a lesson in 
German literature. It began with the reading of a compo- 
sition upon Lessing's " Minna von Barnhelm," the first dis- 
tinctly German drama. Though the diction of the student 
was faulty at times, the composition was unquestionably an 
original effort of rare merit. The professor (not the rector) 
proceeded in his criticism with that delicacy which is the 
distinctive sign of a thorough-bred gentleman. It was ob- 
vious that the most friendly relations existed between him 
and the students. Nevertheless, he spoke very much to the 
point, and the students assisted him in correcting with 
praiseworthy zeal. 

The vistas which were opened to the students in the realm 
of German literature were wide and pleasant. There was 
nothing of that gnawing at the shell, or of that splitting of 
hairs, which is sometimes observed in the teaching of litera- 
ture, where the students never get to see the forest on ac- 
count of the multitude of trees. In short, the lesson was 
characteristic, inasmuch as it was free from that petty annoy- 
ing criticism indulged in where conformity with the exact 



A PRUSSIAN NORMAL SCHOOL. 249 

text of the book is the criterion of successful study. This 
professor was a master in the art of questioning, such as I had 
rarely met in my life. Altogether the lesson left a pleasant 
impression, and I concluded that the students would later in 
life do very well to copy their teacher. 

Natural History. — The next lesson I heard was one in 
zoology, and here again, as so often in Germany, I saw the 
principle illustrated that observation is the foundation of 
cognition. Birds were studied like that proverbial fish of 
Agassiz. Stuffed birds were available in large number ; 
colored pictures assisted where objects were wanting, and 
the lesson proceeded as one would wish every lesson in zoology 
to proceed : 1. Actual observation established percepts ; 2. 
Several of these formed concepts ; 3. These then were grouped 
by collecting the essentials and dropping minor items to 
establish clear-cut ideas. The latter were well expressed. 
When a number of them were available, conclusions were 
drawn from them. Thus the process of gathering knowl- 
edge and strengthening the thinking power was successfully 
exemplified. Some of the steps taken were superfluous, it 
seemed to me, in a class of adults, but it was the evident 
desire of the professor to make these young men learn in 
precisely the way in which they are to cause young children 
to learn afterward. 

It was with much curiosity that I heard the students state 
their observations of domestic birds. We are very apt to 
think that we know all about them, and that in zoology the 
attention should be directed to the birds which the children 
are never likely to see. This lesson converted me to the 
opinion that we know much less of domestic birds than we 
think we do. It was with much curiosity that I heard the 
students state the difference in the mode of drinking between 
pigeons and chickens, to wit, that the pigeon sucks water by 
keeping its beak almost closed and causing a vacuum in the 
throat, while the hen dips or ladles water with the lower part 
of the beak, and then raises its head to let the water run 
down into the craw. The causes were looked for and found 



250 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

in the peculiar build of the beaks of the different birds. 
Monogamy among- the pigeons, polygamy among the fowls ; 
the peculiar flight of pigeons, swallows, and other birds, 
which was traced to the form of the wings and feathers; and 
various other things of great interest were brought out, all 
of which gave opportunity for tracing effect back to cause, 
and to judge from cause to effect. 

This kind of instruction is very interesting, and as dif- 
ferent from the old-time zoology-lessons as day is from 
night. No text-book in zoology, botany, or mineralogy was 
used, but each pupil had an atlas which contained at least 
several thousands of exquisite illustrations of natural ob- 
jects, accompanied by a few pages of print containing a table 
of contents and a key to pronunciation. 

I have but one fault to find with this and one other 
teacher, in the institution. They were overbearing, and 
would humiliate a student for a slight slip of the tongue. 
This seems to be a general fault in normal schools in Ger- 
many. Whether it is done intentionally, in order to make 
the young teachers as humble as possible, or what is the 
reason, I don't know. But, if that is the real motive, it has 
the opposite effect, for nowhere have I found a more fearless 
set of teachers than here in Prussia. One cause of this fear- 
lessness may be the fact that there is a scarcity of teachers 
at present, of which more anon. 

Drawing. — The drawing-lesson I saw was poor, and the 
results meager. This department was evidently the weakest 
point in the institution. 

Music. — A lesson on the church-organ I heard gave me 
a fair sample of the thoroughness with which the students 
are prepared for organist's service in church. Each student, 
as his turn came to play a hymn, was told to play a prelude 
of his own composition. Thus, for instance, if the hymn 
was written in D major, he would start in E major, and, by 
way of septime-chords, try to reach D through A. Or, be- 
ginning at C major, he would go upward through D into G, 
and then through A into D. These were some of the easiest 



A PRUSSIAN NORMAL SCHOOL. 251 

preludes. This practice made the young men free and easy 
at the instrument. But the pedal proved full of pitfalls, as it 
naturally will to beginners. After three years of daily prac- 
tice, good results are obtained. 

Geography. — Then followed a lesson in geography, in 
which a professor illustrated the principle of concentric in- 
struction, by drawing into this lesson history, physics, me- 
teorology, etc., and thus making the lesson have connection 
with many other branches of study. Through all my visits 
in German schools I had not had the chance of hearing a 
lesson in the geography of the United States. Here luck 
favored me, and my readers may imagine my pleasure 
when I heard Washington pronounced Uashington, and not 
Vashington ; New York, not Noy York ; Maine, not Mine., 
etc. It was a very pleasant surprise to me. I inquired 
whether the teacher spoke English, and, upon receiving a 
negative answer, I inquired how it came that he pronounced 
the English and American geographical names correctly. 
The answer was : 

'' We are careful in looking up the pronunciation, for we 
insist upon pronouncing each name correctly. As there can 
be but one correct pronunciation of the name of the river 
Spree, namely. Spray (else Berlin would be constantly ' on a 
spree '), so there can be but one correct pronunciation of Ohio, 
namely, Ohio, not Oheeo, as we G-ermans might be tempted 
to pronounce it. We are aware of the fact that English- 
speaking nations anglicize all geographical names. This we 
consider wrong. We follow the golden rule, 'Do as you 
would be done by.' Of course, ignorance may excuse a 
man's mispronunciation ; but a teacher who pleads the baby- 
act, by claiming not to know how Frenchmen pronounce 
their geographical names, or Americans theirs, deserves to 
be dismissed." 

A review of the political geography of the Union led to a 
historical outlook upon its rapid growth, and there teacher 
and pupils revealed a familiarity with American history 
which brought the lamentable ignorance of the average 



252 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

American teacher regarding German history into bold relief. 
Our almost insular isolation makes us rather exclusive, and 
it is well to call attention to it, and make us measure our- 
selves by the standards of others. As a rule, I find less 
ignorance concerning America among teachers in Germany 
than among French teachers — a statement which, I trust, is 
readily believed. The teacher in this grade was a gentle- 
man of the highest type, who treated his students like gen- 
tlemen, and never intentionally or otherwise wounded their 
sensibilities. 

Arithmetic. — Then I heard a lesson in arithmetic. Per- 
centage was the subject of discussion. Problems were solved 
orally with a rapidity which fairly left me behind. I asked 
permission to put a few questions to the students, and among 
other things asked them to tell me how they would begin 
the study of percentage, and at what stage in the course. 
The answer was very gratifying, to wit, expressions couched 
in the term per cent might be taught in connection with 
reduction of fractions. Thus, for instance, the children 
might be taught that one fourth is equal to twenty-five hun- 
dredths, or twenty-five parts of one hundred. The subse- 
quent practice of percentage would thus receive an early 
foundation. The professor in this room was rather harsh, 
and, like many mathematicians, punctilious, but not unfair 
nor overbearing. 

Daily Programme. — As I passed through the hall, I 
copied the characteristic items of the daily programme to 
give my readers a fair sample of how to get sixteen hours' 
work out of twenty-four : 

6 — 6.30. Eising, dressing, washing. 

6.30 — 7.30. Preparing lessons under supervision. 

7.30—7.50. Breakfast. 

7.50 — 8. Opening exercises in chapel. 

8 — 1. Lessons and experimental teaching. 

1 —1.30. Dinner. 

1.80 — 2. Playing and walking in the grounds. 

2 — 5. Lessons in academic department. 



A PRUSSIAN NORMAL SCHOOL. 253 

5 — 6. Practice in instrumental music. 

6 — 7. Outside exercises. 

7 —7.30. Supper. 

7.30 — 9.30. Working in class-rooms under supervision. 

9. 50 — 10. Evening prayer. 

10. Turning into bed. 

Scarcity of Teachers. — One thing seemed to me incon- 
gruous. The building was designed to accommodate no less 
than one hundred and twenty resident students, but there 
were only forty-two enrolled. Inquiries revealed the fact 
that all the royal seminaries were suffering from want of 
students. In this institution thirty-five to forty could have 
been admitted last year, but only twenty-three had presented 
themselves for admission, and of these only seventeen had 
proved competent. The young men do not see why they 
should sacrifice their whole life on the altar of popular edu- 
cation for 800 to 1,000 marks (|300 to $250) a year. Prussia 
needs more teachers, and they do not come unless paid better. 
Since Germany has made such wonderful forward strides in 
all domains of art and industrial pursuits, young men can 
earn more in other professions ; and it is not a mercenary 
motive either which makes them shun the teacher's profes- 
sion, though much work and responsibility, and poor, nig- 
gardly pay, are causes enough to frighten away even the 
most willing of young men. 

A great number of country teachers in Silesia and other 
provinces are paid 810 marks per annum, and free rent and 
fuel — total, a little more than 1,100 marks, or $275. It is 
literally impossible for a family to live on such a pittance. 
After twelve years of service, an additional sum of 60 marks 
($15) is paid, after twenty years 180 marks ($45), making a 
maximum of $320. In cities, of course, the salaries are bet- 
ter. They usually have a fixed scale, which increases from 
800 to 2,000 marks ($200 to $500). This explains why the 
country teachers flock to the cities. The number of appli- 
cants for places in cities is incredible. In Frankfort-on-the 
Main a rectorship with a somewhat reasonable salary be- 



254: FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

came vacant lately, and no less than 487 applicants offered 
their services ! 

How necessary an increase in the number of teachers in 
Prussia is, may be seen from these numbers: In one prov- 
ince alone the number of pupils in the people's schools is 682,- 
139, while the number of teachers is only 7,959 ; this gives 85 
to 86 pupils to the teacher. Yes, in densely settled districts 
the number of pupils in many school-rooms varies between 
100 and 110. The Government tries various experiments to 
increase the number of teachers, but so long as the only real 
inducement — better pay — is not resorted to, all palliative rem- 
edies will be of no avail. Lowering the conditions of admis- 
sion to normal schools is not a means to be recommended, 
and founding preparatory schools will prove futile ; for as 
soon as the young men are old enough to have their eyes 
opened to the fate that is awaiting them, they will desert, and 
enter business or industrial schools. It is, indeed, a sign of 
the times when one sees the number of pupils in industrial 
schools increase beyond the capacity of the schools, and the 
seminaries empty. The Government can no longer be blind 
to that fact. And now that Prussia has entered the happy 
family of states which liquidate their national debts, it is 
reasonable to suppose that the Prussian Government will 
begin to alleviate the starving condition of the teachers. 

17. Three Kinds of Conferences. 

The principal of a normal school I inspected held confer- 
ences with his students outside of the hour reserved for aca- 
demic studies. These meetings were so full of interest that 
the students would rather have suffered martyrdom than 
stayed away from them. There were three kinds of confer- 
ences he held with his students : 

I. Practicum. — In the conference thus called the young 
would-be teachers submitted plans of the lessons they were 
going to give in the practice department. They were either 
sketched in outlines only, or painfully worked out in every 
detail. These dispositions were submitted, and the master 



THREE KINDS OF CONFERENCES. 255 

would suggest an improvement here and there, or would 
submit a difference of opinion to the decision of the class, but 
he could never be brought to an expression of his judgment 
as to the practicability or impracticability of the plan. He 
held that " the proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof." 
These meetings had the advantage of letting the entire class 
know what each student, as his turn came, intended to do. 
When the lessons were given, the class again met under the 
supervision of the master and in presence of the model teach- 
ers of the school. This second lesson was called the 

II. Criticum. — Now the lessons given were criticised and 
the master took care that not an unpleasant allusion was 
made, not a word was uttered which might in any way 
tend toward wounding the feelings of the student whose 
lesson was under discussion. The students were not spar- 
ing wdth their criticism, but, if any one proved unable to base 
his criticism on a well-understood principle, he was told not 
to let his emotions run away with his judgment. When the 
students had had their say (sometimes it was approval and 
even warm-hearted praise), the practice teachers gave their 
opinion, after which the master summed up and generalized 
the points gained. The criticum I heard was perhaps more 
exciting than most others, since two students got into a 
heated discussion as to the value of certain methods, and 
each claimed that his interpretation of the principle was cor- 
rect. When the master afterward interpreted the principle, 
and in a logical train of thought convincingly proved that 
neither of the two had clearly comprehended the principle, 
the occurrence gave rise to some hilarity. The third kind of 
conferences held in this normal school was the 

III. Scholasticum. — It was held with the faculty and the 
students, and consisted of lectures given by the master. 
These were invariably professional, and gave rise to fruitful 
discussion. Most of them have been published, and they 
have created much comment and well-deserved praise. The 
normal school in which these conferences are in vogue is a 
school of national fame. 

18 



256 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 



18. Object-Lessons and Sketching. 

The reader will remember that I dwelt at length, in one 
of my previous chapters, upon the sketching done in Ger- 
man schools, and stated that, though no regular daily lesson 
in sketching was given, it was part of every lesson which 




The Garden. 



needed illustrating. I offered a few samples of pupils' 
work, and desire now to still further illustrate my statement 
by samples. Object-lessons without objects are like the 
play of "Hamlet" with Hamlet left out, or like a bladeless 
knife that has no handle. I have seen or listened to such 
lessons here in Germany and in America, though rarely. 



OBJECT-LESSONS AXD SKETCHING. 



257 



Usually the teacher has something tangible to begin 
with, be it a twig and a few leaves with which to give a 
lesson on the woods ; be it a pot-plant for a lesson on garden- 




FiG. 239.— The Field. 



ing, or a stalk of corn for a lesson on fields. From that he 
branches out, and by means of the crayon enlarges the cir- 
cle of observation and asks the pupils to sketch the objects 



258 FROM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

as he goes along. Some of these efforts on the part of the 
children are mediocre, but most are quite commendable, and 
betray a skill not to be despised. 







Fig. 240.— The Woods. 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 259 

One day I visited a school where, to my amazement, 
there were four blackboards. Usually the authorities fur- 
nish only one, about four by five feet. The boards I saw 
here were a new contrivance. They consisted of huge 
plates of black glass, ground so as to facilitate the writing 
and prevent the reflection of the light. Three of these 
boards were covered with sketches, which, I was told, were 
used and made during the lessons on objects and common 
things and in language - lessons. They were simple, but 
very characteristic and easy to draw. I inquired whether 
they were original. 

The teacher said : " No, sir ; I copied them from a book 
on objective teaching by E. Jordan, teacher in the practice 
department of the city normal school at Vienna. I own I 
am not a handy draughtsman, and therefore help myself as 
well as I can, for to give object-lessons without frequent 
sketching would be absurd." 

Now, I am not an artist myself, but I venture to copy 
some of the numerous simple models given in that book, and 
I group them exactly as the teacher had grouped them on 
his boards. One group was called " The Garden," the second 
"The Field," and the third "The Woods" (see Figs. 238-240). 

It is easy to trace the course which the teacher had gone 
with his class through garden, field, and woods, by looking 
at these sketches. The group entitled "The "Woods" was 
very fine. I asked to see the pupils' copies, and their slates 
were produced, and lo ! here for the first time in Germany I 
saw double slates in use. Very neat and accurate were the 
sketches of these youngsters, who were in their second and 
some in their third school year. 

19. Miscellaneous Observations. 

It is not easy to go through the schools of a foreign coun- 
try, appear interested, and yet search critically for good 
and bad points without losing the confidence of your hosts. 
However, not one' of the many teachers I saw at work in 
Germany, France, and Holland objects to me as a reporter. 



260 FliOM VARIOUS OTHER PRUSSIAN PROVINCES. 

My note-book is brought into requisition only when a sketch 
is to be made, and I do that in such an unostentatious way 
that it does not irritate the teachers; but the first thing I do 
after getting to my hotel is to note down the leading points 
of criticism, or those of a lesson or of a conversation held 
with teachers. I find my memory very faithful. It retains 
interesting matter, and loses unimportant things as though 
it were a sieve. 

I will close this chapter with a few stray ears that I 
glean from various pages of my note-book. 

Nowhere in Europe do I find daily marking of lessons 
resorted to. The teachers are not marking-machines, but 
are earnestly engaged in teaching, helping, suggesting, ask- 
ing, directing, watching, etc. There is a total absence of 
that detestable immoral competition which so often plays 
havoc with our pupils in America. Reports (Zeugnisse, tes- 
timonials) are sent home at the close of every term ; but 
they express the grades of the pupils in such terms as very 
good, good, satisfactory, poor, very poor, or similar ones. 
The prevalence of such terms as " very good " and " excel- 
lent" stamps the report No. 1. If the greater number of 
submarks is good and mediocre, it is called No. 2, and so on. 
Reports such as are given out in America, that express 
shades of differences by tenths of a per cent, are wholly un- 
known here. 

Blachhoards I find fixed in grooves like window-sashes, 
hung by weights, so that they may be adjusted to the height 
of the pupil at work before them. In some schools I find 
the board standing on easels, but rarely are the walls changed 
into blackboards, though the cumbersome easel is being 
done away with in most places. The long, slender, dustless 
crayons used in America are found here also ; but in some 
country schools I noticed chunks of chalk just as they were 
broken out of the quarries. 

In France I saw one school in which the children used 
no slates. The tops of their desks were white marble, and 
the children wrote with soft lead-pencils, thus avoiding the 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 261 

injury to the eyes resulting from writing on black ; but tbe 
marble tops needed thorough cleansing and an occasional 
renewal. I am afraid, though, that if our Young Americans 
had marble tops on their desks, they would have to be re- 
placed " semi-occasionally. " 

In many villages in France, Holland, Lower Rhenish 
Prussia, and Westphalia, I find the children coming to 
school in wooden shoes, which are placed in a row in the 
corridors or slipped under a low shelf. In school the chil- 
dren sit with bare feet. In winter they wear these wooden 
shoes over their leather ones, and even line them with straw 
or hay to keep the feet warm. Many of these pupils are 
obliged to walk great distances to reach school. 

Silentium ! Silence-hour. An odd name, is it not ? But 
an appropriate one, as we shall see. In large, crowded cities 
(and there seems to be a big town at every turn of the road 
here in Rhenish Prussia) many children come from homes 
where quiet mental work is impossible. Tenement-houses 
are very frequent. Home lessons can not be expected un- 
less the conditions of undisturbed work are offered. The 
teachers of some high-schools solve this difficulty by alter- 
nately spending one hour, from 7 till 8 P. M. , at the school- 
house and helping the pupils prepare their home lessons. 
This hour is called silentium (silence). No pupil is permit- 
ted to talk aloud ; only whispering is allowed. When the 
noise increases beyond regulation height, the teacher shouts, 
" Silentium ! " and the noise subsides to a mere humming. 
The teacher sits at his desk and gives in subdued tone the 
assistance asked for by a pupil who steps up to him. Since 
there is no study -hour during the day's work — that is, 
within the daily programme — this silence-hour becomes a 
necessity. Of course, it imposes additional work on the 
teacher, but, since each one is called upon to spend only an 
hour every fortnight, the burden is not great. 



262 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

CHAPTER X. 

LEIPSIC {KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

1. LEIPSIC. Manual Training School. 

Before I describe this school and state its results, it seems 
essential to emphasize the principal difference between this 
(the German) manual training-school and those in Paris. 

In Paris, skill in some trades seems end and aim. In this 
school in Leipsic (and in those of more than two dozen good- 
sized towns in Germany) the manual occupations are " part 
and parcel " of a " harmonious, all-sided education, which 
aims alike at intellectual growth, increase of will-power, and 
skill in the use of the hands and tools. This difference is 
the principal one, but, as is readily seen, it is also a difference 
in principle. The French motive-power is utilitarianism; 
that of the Germans is, as Froebel has it, " to make men — 
whole, complete men — men who can observe, learn by expe- 
rience, and act up to their convictions." 

In nothing is the difPerence so clearly seen as in the 
things which the pupils here in the ancient Thomas School 
manufacture. In subsequent pages of this report this will 
be more clearly seen. From the illustrations I gathered in 
Paris (see p. 325), it will be seen that no complete thing is 
made. Each object furnished by the pupils is an exercise, 
as it were. Not a door is made, but a corner-joint of a 
door ; not a drawer, but the dovetailing joint of two boards ; 
not a window, but a window-cross, and so on. 

I can in no better way explain the work in Paris than 
by comparing the manual work of the boys there with the 
etudes and exercises on the piano, practiced for the purpose 
of gaining that dexterity of the fingers which may be neces- 
sary ; but to confine a pupil exclusively to such practice 
would be making a little rebel of him in a short time. Be- 
sides, it is claimed by people who ought to know whereof 
they talk, that that dexterity can be gained equally well by 



APPEAL TO LEIPSIC'S SCHOOL-BOYS. 263 

practicing musical "pieces." Another simile drawn from 
our professional art is tliat the Parisian travail manuel 
schools teach the grammar of manual work, while the 
German schools teach the work itself, which includes the 
grammar. 

Another very essential difference between the French 
and German manual training schools is found in this: the 
French boys do work which ought to be reserved for adults 
— the details of a door- joint are foreign to a child's range of 
experience ; while in the German schools the boys learn to 
make things such as they find use for. This causes a cer- 
tain satisfaction, while details leave the working boys un- 
satisfied. Nothing in the German schools is made that has 
not in itself a value for the child. The educational value of 
the German manual training school is well characterized in 
the following: 

2. Appeal to Leipsic's School-Boys. 

Listen to what we have to say, boys. It concerns every true boy. 
Every one of you who wants to become a true man likes to watch dili- 
gent workmen and wishes to do like them — that is to say, use the ham- 
mer and hatchet, the tweezers and gimlet, the plane and saw, the file 
and rasp, the bolt and solder, the blow-pipe, the modeling-tool and carv- 
ing-knife, etc. Every boy who is a real boy tries to use these tools. He 
will find opportunities to do so in our manual training-school. 

We don't want to make artisans of you, for your leisure hours would 
not suffice for that ; but we want to make you more skillful and clever 
than boys usually are. How many can drive a nail without hitting their 
fingers ? How many can make kites that balance and fly well ? How 
many, when the skates get shaky on the ice, can help themselves and 
need not run to the locksmith ? Yes, many of you can not even point a 
pencil well, or put a wrapper around a school-book without making it 
look clumsy. 

Your parents mean to benefit you when they present you with a tool- 
box at Christmas. How many of such boxes are shoved into the corner, 
where the tools rust and the box is covered with dust ? You must have 
some one who teaches you how to use tools. Or you get a scroll-saw, 
and, after breaking a number of saw-blades, you succeed in sawing out 



264 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

of cigar-box boards a few clumsy patterns. Then you go to a joiner to 
have them glued and adjusted. He is the one who does the real work. 
Yet you give these things away as your work. It isn't right, boys ! It 
can't be right ! 

We must talk plainly, boys. Most of you do not know how to use 
tools. That needs to be learned. Most of you spend too much time in 
reading, and spoiling their precious eye-sight. When you are called to do 
a manual job for your mothers, you are at a loss how to go at it. Oh, 
what would have become of you had you been in Robinson Crusoe's 
place ? You would have perished miserably. Come, boys, think of it ! 

Things should be different. When school is over and home tasks 
are done, a true boy spends an hour happily on the playground and in 
summer takes a bath in the river. In winter he may learn to work with 
his hands at the work-bench and the vise. After many hours of brain- 
work he uses his strength in planing and sawing, hammering and chisel- 
ing. He learns to see and admire lines of beauty in drawing, and work- 
ing out his drawings in models. He furnishes models in clay and carves 
wood. He makes physical experiments, and works neat Christmas pres- 
ents for his dear ones at home. 

And when, outside, the winter storms rage and the snow-flakes fall, 
our pupils come together in a warm room and work like good fellows 1o 
produce something, and laugh, chat, and sing in company, while book- 
worms sit in corners like hermits. Our pupils have had such pleasures 
for several years. Come and join us. 

But, remember, we don't want any " lazy-bones." If any of you like 
to shirk work, and after a few weeks, when the work gets harder, thinks 
he has a toothache, or perchance some other ache, don't let him come. 
We don't want him. We want diligent boys. All who like to work are 
welcome. Ask your parents. They will allow you to come for an hour 
or two where they know you are well looked after. 

Life is full of work, boys, now more than ever. Prepare for it. A 
true man learns to help himself, and we will show you how. So come, 
and be welcomed by 

The Masters op the Training-School, 

This appeal was printed in 1883, and hung up in the cor- 
ridors of the several common schools, and in consequence 
five hundred and seventy-five pupils were enlisted in the 
manual training school. 



NORMAL SCHOOL FOR MANUAL TRAINING. 265 



3. Normal School for Manual Training. 

Leipsic has become the center of the manual training 
movement in Germany. A wise provision of the people 
there was to establish a normal school for manual occupa- 
tions. It was argued that, so long as teachers were wanting 
and artisans had to be employed as teachers, the instruction 
would go astray as it did in Paris; it would inevitably end 
in special apprentice school work. To make manual train- 
ing an essential part of public education, it must be brought 
into harmony with all the other educational exertions of 
the school; itself must rest on educational principles. 

How deeply the want of a seminary for manual training 
teachers had been felt all over Germany, could be seen from 
the fact that, when this school was opened, fifty-five students, 
mostly teachers, applied for admission from all parts of Ger- 
many, Austria, and one even from Russia. They were dele- 
gated by state governments and city councils, by school com- 
mittees and societies, provided with the necessary means by 
public and private efforts. All of them had some skill in 
the use of tools, and therefore attended the first course of the 
new institution very profitably. Ever since this first course 
the time of the courses has been extended, so that now every 
department of manual training, so far as approved to come 
within the pale of public education, is taught, namely : 

1. Pasteboard and bookbinder's work. 

2. Joiner's and carpenter's work. 

3. Turner's work (wood and other materials). 

4. Carving in wood and plaster. 

5. Modeling in clay, and casting. 

6. Wire-work and tinsmithing. 

7. Lock- and tool -smithing. 

The old Thomas School, a building which is perhaps four 
hundred years old, and in which Sebastian Bach used to be 
cantor, has been entirely given over by the city authorities 
to the Society for the Introduction of Manual Training. In 
the afternoons and evenings the lower floor contains hun- 



266 



LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 



dreds of little fellows hard at work, and on the third floor is 
the normal school. Here are seen men of forty or fifty as 
pupils, using the file or the hammer and saw. It looks odd 
yet natural. Every normal school pupil must make a mas- 
terpiece before he can graduate. I saw a beautiful money- 
safe made by a middle-aged man, whose long waving beard 
showed streaks of gray. He hoped to graduate upon the 
strength of this safe. 

I spent a day in this quaint old school-house, and found it 
as instructive as it was amusing. There are two sitting- 
rooms for the students, furnished handsomely and provided 
with a piano. Here the students converse, read, and sing, 
during the pauses between lessons. Chorus singing, under 
the leadership of a musician from their ranks, is indulged in, 
and the work is thus made pleasant. Several halls are filled 
with the work of the pupils, an exhibition of rare merit. 
Dr. W. Goetze, the rector of this institution, seems to be the 
leading spirit of the entire movement in Leipsic. 

4. The Work done in Leipsic. 

And now I will proceed to show what kind of work is 
done in Leipsic. Among the many hundreds of objects made 
of pasteboard and paper I will sketch a few typical ones. 

The wood-work (joiner-work) is essentially the same as 
that done in Vienna. The reader is requested to compare 
pages 401-409. But the children in 
Leipsic make a number of pieces of 
apparatus used in physics; many of 
them are very exact. I insert some 
models on page 268. 

In wire-work this school does more 
than any other I saw. Truly inge- 
nious devices are made with soft and 
hard wires. The first step in this de- 
partment is making geometrical fig- 
ures. After that a great number of objects of use in the 
house ai'e made, such as button-hooks, lamp-chimney clean- 




FiG. 241, 



THE WORK DONE IN LEIPSIC. 



2GT 



y ^^' ^ A 




-fm/M 


^ . J. 


* 


1 


li i T\ 


W^ 






268 



LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 



ers, paper-holders, chains, and many others. The hand- 
book used by the teachers is full of suggestions. The tin 
and zinc work has a very " useful look." Quite a number of 
neat things are made of tin, zinc, and copper. 




Figs. ^8-258. 



In wood-carving the Leipsic school confines itself to a 
peculiar but handsome pattern, called "scallop cut," which is 
repeated in ever-changing forms. A few typical sketches 
copied from ornamented furniture may illustrate this. This 
work is not done as exercise only, but each new form is in- 
stantly applied on some useful article. (See page 269.) 



THE WORK DONE IN LEIPSIC. 



269 



The work in modeling in clay also is vastly different 
from that in Paris ; while there ornamenting is the chief 




Fig. 259.— Wood-Carving. 



aim, here in Leipsic it is forming objects, beginning with 
geometrical and ending with forms of life. 

But in one thing all the manual training-schools I have 



2Y0 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

seen follow the same method. No article, no exercise is 
done in material, be that clay, plaster, wood, metal, or paste- 
board, unless a drawing is first made by the pupil. 

Characteristic of the object of this Leipsic school is the 
condensed announcement of its rector, in which he says : 
" Instruction in our workshops aims at developing the boys' 
practical common sense, training their senses, making them 
skillful in the handling of tools, giving their creative activity 
opportunities for application and the overtaxed brain a 
chance to recuperate by means of manual work, which is in 
itself an innocent recreation and pleasure, while it strength- 
ens the body. No aimless play-work is permitted, nor tedious 
exercises with no apparent object. A boy who begins an 
article must know what he intends to produce, and then 
bend all his energy to secure that end. Boys who thus learn 
to work respect labor in any form, and are not ashamed of it." 

To sum up : I prefer this German school, with all its in- 
conveniences, to the magnificently equipped manual train- 
ing halls in Paris with their tedious exercises. 

5. The Germ of the Manual Training Idea. 

In the month of January, 1888, died the noted school 
reformer of Finland (in Russia), Uno Cygnaeus, rector of 
a normal school at lyvaskylae, on Lake Paijene, Finland. 
The news of his death was scarcely noticed beyond the con- 
fines of Finland. Yet the name of that man deserves to be 
remembered in every civilized country. Cygnaeus was the 
father of that practical instruction in manual training which 
is now taking its conquering course through the civilized 
world, and is being recognized as a regular and legitimate 
branch of study or occupation in the boys' schools of Fin- 
land, Sweden, France, Switzerland, and Germany. In view- 
ing the life of this man it may be seen that America has 
contributed its mite toward developing an idea which will 
prove a salvation to thousands and hundreds of thousands 
of boys, not to mention the benefits it offers to education 
in general all over the civilized world. 



THE GERM OF THE MANUAL TRAINING IDEA. 271 

Cygnaeus was born at Tavastehus, on the 12th of Octo- 
ber, 1810. When he had completed his school and college 
studies, he prepared himself for the ministry and accepted a 
position as preacher in the state-prison at Viborg. But in 
1839 he left his native country to follow a call to Russian 
America (now Alaska). Among the Russian settlements of 
extreme Northwestern America there were a number of 
Finnish families that needed a minister of the gospel. Cyg- 
naeus was assigned to that duty. In order to reach his post 
he took the long way around Cape Horn, and landed at 
Novo-Archangelsk in May, 1840. 

He brought with him embryonic thoughts on education, 
and, thrown upon his own resources for intellectual company 
among the semi-savages on the coast of the Pacific in Russian 
America, he began to construe the world's needs in his own 
inimitable way. He was a man of active intellect and fer- 
tile imagination. Here in this northern wilderness it was 
that the idea of Finland's school reform was conceived and 
born. It was a feeble germ, though. For here it was 
nurtured in its infancy by no more food than the brain 
of a man who was cut loose from the civilized world, like a 
convict in the mines of Siberia. 

Otto Salomon, the rector of the Swedish Manual Training 
Seminary at Naas, says of him : " Cut loose from the world 
of culture and thought, surrounded by human beings who 
were half savages, the young preacher, in his lonely walks 
from one settlement to another, and by the lamp in his 
hermit's study, was seized by an unconquerable desire to 
benefit his race ; to find suitable means for lifting men to a 
higher level of existence; to discover ways and means of 
reform in intellectual and moral education. Few books 
were at his disposal, but among them were Pestalozzi's and 
Froebel's works. These he studied in his lonely hours, and 
soon the fructifying spirit of Froebel awakened in him the 
germ of that idea which afterward took that defuiite shape in 
which we know it. " 

The study of Froebel's works particularly strengthened 
19 



272 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

him in his determination to devote his life to the cause of 
education of coming generations. Five years he spent in 
studying his favorite authors, and in framing his plans. 
Then he returned home by way of Okhotsk through Siberia 
and Russia. From the year 1846 till 1856, for more than ten 
years, he lived among his countrymen at St. Petersburg, 
acting as religious adviser, and made himself and his educa- 
tional reform plans known to others through the press. 

When, in 1856, Emperor Nicholas died, and with Alex- 
ander II an era of reform began not onl}^ in Russia proper 
but also in Finland (the people of which are more Swedish 
than Russian), Cygnaeus thought the time had come for the 
realization of his plans. Alexander II was crowned as 
Grand-duke of Finland, and came to this pro\T:nce, where he 
declared, in a memorable session of the provincial senate, 
that Finland should enjoy the blessings of a common-school 
system. Wisely the emperor left the execution of that order 
to the home government, and the senate called upon the 
councilors of the three consistories (at the time regents of 
church and school in Finland) to make propositions for a 
system of schools which would come up to the emperor's 
well-emphasized decision. These propositions were pub- 
lished, and subjected to public scrutiny. 

This gave Cygnaeus a chance to forward his plans in 
connection with a dignified criticism of the councilors' 
propositions. Among the essays submitted to the Govern- 
ment was that of Cygnaeus, which made the most favorable 
impression. With that tolerance for the opinion of others 
which will always commend itself, Cj'gnaeus discussed the 
propositions and suggested his own plans. In the senate his 
ideas found favor at once, and it was thought that a man 
who could thus consistently lay open his plans and so well 
sustain them, was the proper person to execute them. 

He Avas rewarded with the entire confidence of the au- 
thorities, and was charged with framing the plans for a sys- 
tem of schools which offered room for manual training. 
But, in order to enable him to present the best results of 



DRAWING m LEIPSIC AND OTHER SAXON CITIES. 273 

study and observatiou, he was sent to central Europe, to in- 
spect the schools there. This he did, and, after studying the 
ideas of German educational reformers and observing their 
practical results, returned home, embodied what he had 
learned into his own plans, and then submitted his new 
plans. 

They were unanimously adopted, and he was appointed 
Inspector-Genera] of the People's Schools of Finland, and 
rector of the normal school at lyvaskylae (situated on the 
woody shore of Lake Paijene, in the center of the province). 
In this position he was able to execute his favorite idea of 
introducing manual training for boys, and other far-reach- 
ing plans of reform, without opposition. The fact that he 
found little, if any opposition, may be attributed to his 
lovable character and charming temper. It is said of him 
that he disarmed opposition with his saint-like smile, his 
unconquerable determination, and wonderful strength of 
argument. 

His chief points of reform consisted in introducing Pesta- 
lozzi's objective teaching and Froebel's occupations into the 
schools, supplementing both by manual training for more 
advanced grades. The principle upon which his system was 
based was, that education of the young must aim not at one- 
sided intellectual training, but at the harmonious strength- 
ening and exercise of man's inborn powers, with constant 
consideration of practical aims in life. The whole life of 
this man proves again what a power a man can be who has 
an idea, and the strength of will to pursue and realize it. 

6. Drawing in Leipsic and other Saxon Cities. 

Prof. F. Flinzer, the famous illustrator of " Die deutsche 
Jugend," author of "Konig Nobel," and inspector of the 
drawing department in Leipsic, had the great kindness to 
devote a day to the task of initiating me into the method 
pursued in the teaching of drawing in that city and other 
places of Saxony. He is the leader of one of the four prin- 
cipal systems employed in Germany. A simple statement of 



274 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

the differences in the systems or methods will not come 
amiss in this book. 

There is, first of all, the Hamburg system, of which I made 
frequent reference in previous pages. It has been modified 
somewhat to adapt it to existing circumstances, and has re- 
cently been officially introduced in all the schools of Prussia. 
Prof. Stuhlmann, rector of the industrial art-school in Ham- 
burg, is the author. It may be said that it is spread over 
more territory than any other system, simply because the 
largest and leading state of Germany — Prussia — has adopted 
it. This system applies geometrical forms from the begin- 
ning, and presents the child in due course of years with a 
wealth of beautiful ornamental forms, a few of which are 
found on previous pages. Like other good systems, it avoids 
printed copies, and requires teacher and pupils to work out, 
to develop forms from others. It begins with drawing in 
net-lines, and ends with perspective drawing of solids. 

There is, however, a serious error in the Prussian or Ham- 
burg system : it permits — nay, requires — the use of instru- 
ments, ruler, compasses, etc., and ties down the child to the 
use of measures, such as ruler, paper-strips, etc. It never 
quite emancipates the pupil from artistic measures. He 
measures his construction-lines on every grade of the course, 
and he is, even at a time when his eye should be sufficiently 
trained in measuring without aids, such as paper-strips, re- 
quired to verify his estimates taken by the eye. If this error 
is eliminated, I think the system is destined to a great 
future. 

Opposed to this Prussian or Hamburg school is Flinzer's 
system. It is known in Germany as the Leipsic system. 
Flinzer never allows an instrument, but practices the eye to 
measure accurately. He discards drawing in net-lines, but 
begins with free-hand drawing, and continues it through the 
entire course. Drawing from solids, geometrical bodies, 
casts, busts, etc., begins in the third grade, and compasses 
and ruler are excluded rigidly and mercilessly from the en- 
tire course. I believe it is permitted only where mechanical 



DRAWING IN LEIPSIC AND OTHER SAXON CITIES. 275 

engineering- is taught in tlie high-school. Naturally Flinzer's 
course is much slower than Stuhlmann's. 

The third system in vogue at many places in Germany 
is the one I mentioned also in one of my jjrevious reports 
(see page 233). It consists of drawing solids at once, and 
discards flat-surfaced copies. This system is rather in a 
primitive state of development, and may perhaps, in years 
to come, grow more methodical. Where industrial, so-called, 
manual training schools are established, this system of draw- 
ing finds many friends. 

The fourth system is the well-known copying from flat- 
surfaced models, which never develops self-activity, hut 
keeps the pupil dependent upon copies. I am sorry to say 
that this system is still in general use in America. Here in 
Germany it is fast disappearing. Of all the systems I saw 
in operation here in Europe, that of Prof. Flinzer recom- 
mends itself to me most favorably. I have gathered about 
forty specimens from his own pupils representing the ages 
from nine till fourteen years, and shall endeavor to have 
them reproduced by the photo-lithographic process. 

This Leipsic system is in harmony with the principles of 
the modern science of education. It seems to seek the aim 
of free-hand drawing in the general aim of the school, that 
is, in intellectual growth, not merely in dexterity of the hand 
and correct representation of form. Each of its steps may 
be, and I believe is, founded upon a basis of psychological 
reasoning. It aims at the development of an '' intellectual 
eye," at conscious seeing. Manual dexterity is considered of 
secondary importance ; indeed, it acknowledges the latter 
only when it gives evidence of an actual comprehension of 
the form to be produced or reproduced. 

Perhaps in nothing is Flinzer's procedure so fruitful as 
in strengthening the power of judgment and creative ac- 
tivity. Never during the entire course does Flinzer touch a 
pupil's drawing to correct an error. By skillful questioning 
and the simplest but most effective tests he makes the pupils 
see their own errors — and having recognized the errors the 



276 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

correcting of them follows easily. There is no show, no 
aiming at glittering results, in his manner of teaching. It 
is a fact which can be fully comprehended only by having 
seen the system in operation, or by comparing the results 
with those of other systems. 

The Leipsic system is logical — proceeds from the simplest 
to the most complicated forms; that is, it proceeds geneti- 
cally. By means of analysis and synthesis it develops forms ; 
in short, it proceeds precisely in the world of forms as the 
good teacher does in the world of ideas : observation, per- 
cept, concept, idea, judgment, follow in proper succession, 
and the power of imagination is wonderfully nourished. 

Again, there is no confusion ; the course is concentrically 
arranged. Everything new stands in organic connection 
with previous cognitions. And above all stands the fact 
that Flinzer makes his pupils productive; not a form is 
taught which is not used to produce new ones in ever-vary- 
ing applications. A boy who has gone through this course 
is never at a loss how to present forms, both flat-surfaced 
ornaments and solid bodies. This productive application is 
so peculiar a merit of this system that it deserves special 
mention. No pupil of Prof. Flinzer, after leaving school, 
has dropped drawing, but continues the practice. It is a 
preparation adapted alike for artisan and artist — a quality 
which can not be claimed by any other system. 

I trace this back to the noteworthy fact that, from the 
very start, instruments are rejected, and the pupil is required 
to rely entirely upon himself. No artificial measuring is 
allowed ; the eye alone must do the measuring. 

7. Shading in Drawing. 

Pupils are apt to think that the light falls in parallel 
beams on all objects, and that therefore the side on which the 
light falls should be represented in white, while others not 
struck by direct beams of light might be shaded. In the begin- 
ning of the course in shading this may suffice. But it is no 
more true than it is to say " the sun rises or sets." Illumina- 



SHADING IN DRAWING. 



277 



tion by parallel beams does not occur in nature anywhere, 
for all things visible to the eye are struck by beams of light 
which stand at different angles to each other. The following 
sketch of one of Prof. Flinzer's lessons is highly instructive : 
Suppose that a 6 in the following illustration be a win- 
dow through which strong light falls upon a sphere beyond 
its equator, namely, as far as line c d. The lowest beam of 
light which can strike the sphere perpendicularly is 
the one marked b e, the highest that marked a f. 
The space, or angle, between these two lines is filled 
^N^^ with beams each of which forms a "pole of light." 
To these are added a great number of parallel 
beams of which those that strike the sphere 
may be considered first. We will call 
f^^S.%%^^\ the parallels belonging to each 
^^#^^^\ other a system. Now^ 




their poles 
illumine 
the space 
between 
e and /. 
Each of 
these sys- 
tems has 
its equa- 
tor, that is, its circumference; but most of these circumfer- 
ences are destroyed or obliterated by the beams of other sys- 
tems, since they too illumine a space. The boundary-line of 
shadow which in case of parallel illumination would be 
congruent with the equator of the sphere is now moved 
beyond the equator, or as far as line c d, that is, to the tan- 
gents a d and b c. The impression this makes on the eye is 
that the equator has receded. 



278 



LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 



Hence it is obvious that the greatest amount of light is 
found on line e /, and that on the zone formed by lines e / 
and c d the light becomes less clearly defined until line c d 
is reached, where dense shadow will prevail if reflected light 
does not strike even the lower part of the sphere and make it 
visible to us. The zone between e f and c d must therefore 
be shaded ; beginning at e /, the shadow must be represented 
as increasing till the dai'kest portion is reached. 




Fig. 261. 



The foregoing cut is a reproduction of a shaded sphere, a 
drawing of which I saw done by pupils of the schools in 
Leipsic. 



SHADING IN DRAWING. 



279 



During tlie lessons I heard Prof. Flinzer give, I noticed 
two ingenious devices that appealed strongly to the senses. 
The first was a white board on hinges, which could be placed 
in front of a window to catch the direct beams of light. 
Its dazzling whiteness was well observed ; then the teacher 
turned it slightly, say at an angle of twenty degrees. The 
difference in the tone of the color was at once noticed. 




More and more the board was turned 
away from the direct beams of light ; and 
when, finally, it was turned at an angle of ninety 
degrees, the decrease of light on the board was suf- 
ficient to convince the boys of the necessity of shading it, 
in case they had to represent the board in a drawing. This 
gradual change showed them what tone to apply in shading. 
The other device consisted of a square blackboard showing 
a large circle in white oil-color. This board hung on hinges 
also. When it was turned to the left, the pupils saw the 
circle shortened and changed into an ellipse, as the forego- 
ing cuts show. 



280 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 



8. A Drawing-Lesson full of Fun. 

Drawing-lessons are generally rather prosy affairs. They 
are not apt to employ the brain ; weighty arguments, hard 
thinking, quick responses, flashes of wit, and a pleasant flow 
of humor, are usually not characteristics of the drawing-les- 
sons as I know them to be in many schools. In Leipsic a 
bit of genuine fun is mixed with the unavoidable drudgery 
of the drawing-lesson, which bit of fun, after all, has a solid 
foundation of earnest intention on the part of the instigator, 
the teacher. The latter — Prof. Flinzer — told me that a pupil 
might test his sketches of live forms by blackening them to 
make them appear as silhouettes. 

" Draw the outlines of the human body," said he ; " they 
may seem to you correct ; then flll out the outlines, and you 
will instantly detect where the lines are faulty. Or, you 
may instinctively feel yourself that the outlines are faulty 
somewhere, but you may be unable to detect where the 
errors are. All you have to do is to make a silhouette of 
the form you sketched in lines. The errors made will cry 
out their grievances, and you will hasten to redress them. 
This has led me to give my pupils from time to time a lesson 
in silhouette-drawing. 

" No special methodical steps are planned for this kind of 
work. I merely use it as a test-lesson, but 
the boys enjoy it as much as going to a 
circus. Thus I proceed: A boy is called 
to make five dots on the board, and to 
designate which of the five is to be the 
head of the figure. Then a pupil is called 
to the board to draw a human form within 
these five dots, two of which are to desig- 
nate the place of the hands, two the places 
Fig. 264. of the feet, and one that of the head. He 

is not permitted to choose the latter for 
himself. If a pupil of much imaginative force is called, 
very interesting-looking figures are the results. The five 




A DRA.WING-LESSON FULL OF FUN. 281 

points in the frame in the margin, for instance, would in- 
stantly suggest the picture of the crucified. This being 
class-work, all the pupils learn to give shape to the forms 
they imagine. Even poor draughtsmen do commendable 
work. 

" Sometimes we take five crumbs of bread, or five grains 
of sand, and let them fall on the drawing-paper. Where 
they chance to come to rest, faint dots are made, the teacher 
having previously stated that the upper left, or the lower 
right, or some other corner, designates the position of the 
head. Of course, chance determines the position of these 
dots. It exercises the ingenuity and imaginative power to 
determine what kind of figures should fiil the frame. 

" The fun which grows out of this kind of work is exhil- 
arating, especially when the order is given to make the head 





Figs. 265-268. 

in the lower left corner. This difficult problem was solved 
nicely by representing an acrobat lying on his back and 
playing ball with his feet." 

I offer to the reader some of the work done by the pupils 
of Prof, Flinzer. These sketches will speak for themselves. 
They are not of equal perfection ; nor is any of them per- 
fect, but as the work of boys of the age of twelve to fourteen 
years the figures are meritorious. Perhaps the best recom- 
mendation of this kind of lessons is the consideration that it 
stimulates self-activity to a greater degree than copying 



282 



LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY), 



drawings or raodels. The practice is at least worthy of an 
honest trial now and then, and may be used as a stimulus 
which has the enviable quality of genuineness and absolute 




Figs. 269, 270. 



want of artificiality. My candid and patient reader is kindly 
requested not to call this "a new method." It is neither a 
new nor an old method, nor is it a method at all. It is 
nothing but a very skillful device for stimulating the pupil's 
creative activity, but, as such, very valuable. 

9. The Best-equipped School. 

The Sixth Biirger School in Leipsic is, as far as my 
knowledge of schools goes, the best equipped in the world. 



THE BEST-EQUIPPED SCHOOL. 



283 



I do not mean the best manned, but best equipped with 
means of instruction. Wherever in Leipsic I inquired what 
school would yield the largest crop of valuable observations, 
I was told to go to the Sixth Burger School. I will say 
nothing of its organization. It differs materially from that 
of our common schools, but all the differences I noticed are 
sequences of peculiar German social distinctions which we 
do not care to adopt. This school shows a wealth of equip- 
ment with means of instruction that might make Pestalozzi 
turn green with envy in his grave. 

While in Paris I was much delighted when I saw the 
magnificent and generous equipment of the primary schools 
there, but this school far surpasses them all. No apparatus 
ever invented to illustrate instruction in physics is wanting 
here. Many of these devices and machines are made by the 




Fig. 271. 



rector, Mr. Schmidt. Natural history is here represented by 
innumerable stuffed birds and animals, mineral specimens, 
prepared sea-animals and fishes, and, finally mounted dried 
plants in portfolios. This natural history cabinet vies with 
that of the pedagogical museum in Paris. 

Astronomy, which appears to be the hobby of this gentle- 
man, is well represented by devices which are nearly all 
patented. Every total or partial eclipse that occurs during 
the year is carefully sketched and represented in movable 
pasteboard devices, showing the courses the shadow takes 
over the surface of the earth. (See Fig. 271, a sketch of the 
last total eclipse of the sun, which was observed by the 



284 



LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 




Fig. 272. 



pupils after a lesson which prepared them suitably for the 
phenomenon.) 

In the corridor hangs a device showing the relative size 
of the sun, earth, and moon. (See Fig. 272.) The mean 

distance of the moon from 
the earth, as represented in 
the simple device, is made 
the one-thousandth part of 
the length of the corridor. 
Large planetariums and tel- 
lurions of his own make were 
exhibited in great number 
by Prof. Schmidt. 

Preparations for illustrat- 
ing instruction in physiology 
filled an entire room. There 
were such of plaster, of pa- 
pier-mache^ of pasteboard, 
even of marble. Geographi- 
cal maps, relief and plane-surface maps, were here collected 
and so nicely arranged that a mere glance sufficed to find 
the desired one. Perfect order reigned supreme, for the 
professor allows no one to handle his treasures in the cabi- 
net. All requisitions are 
filled by himself. 

In regard to inventing 
devices for illustrative 
teaching he is a genius. 
I select one of the numer- 
ous articles to xDrove the 
originality of the man. It 
is a device illustrating 
" borrowing " in subtrac- 
tion. The thing is made 
of paste-board, has three 

compartments, each covered with glass, under which are 
seen ten round apertures. If a strap at the side is pulled, 




Fig. 



THE BEST-EQUIPPED SCHOOL. 285 

there appear ten silver marks in the holes of the first com- 
partment ; if another is pulled, nine of them disappear, 
one is left ; this one is borrowed and changed to nickel 
g-roschen, which is done by pulling a second strap. The 
device itself is perhaps of less methodical value, as the in- 
ventor may think ; still, with especially dull pupils, it may 
be of service. 

Another thing worthy of imitation is a pictorial pres- 
entation of the changes that have been going on in the 
city. The history of the city is illustrated by three water- 
color charts of very large size. The first represents Leipsic 
at the time of Luther. The " Grimma Gate," the " Pleissen- 
burg," and the old fortifications, are there in exact copy of 
old pictures preserved in the city museums and archives. 
The second picture represents the same places at the time of 
Napoleon I, with all the changes that had been made since 
the time of Luther. It is the scene of that memorable day, 
the 18th day of October, 1813, when the Prussian Land- 
wehr stormed the Grimma Gate. The third, and naturally 
most handsome of the three pictures, represents the city as 
it is now. The view is taken from the same standpoint 
from which the others are taken. What notable changes 
this picture shows ! It is a speaking proof of the marvel- 
ous industry of our century, such as no description and no 
column of numbers could give. These large pictures are 
mounted on muslin, provided with light frames, and used 
frequently in teaching home history and geography. Other 
pictures, scenes from the history of civilization and cult- 
ure, were there, but the above mentioned interested me 
most. 

A geological map of the earth's crust on which Leipsic is 
situated deserves to be described. Think of a glass-covered 
case, in which the different strata of the earth, so far as 
known, are made of real minerals. From the granite up- 
ward to alluvial and diluvial layers, each layer is repre- 
sented in approximate thickness. There were " grauwacke," 
brown coal, ocean gravel, erratic blocks, loam, etc. I thought 



286 



LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 



I might suggest to our high-school teachers to prepare such a 
map in natura, for their own city, so far as the crust is 
known to them. I would illustrate the condition of the 
crust on which their pupils live, and the treasures under 
foot, better than a description. Or, still better, they may 
suggest to their pupils to make one. 

In each class-room of this superb school a wind-rose is 
painted on the ceiling such as in Fig. 274. Care is taken 

to have the cardinal 
points exactly right 
by the compass, thus 
indicating the position 
of the school-house. 
It will hardly do, 
though, to leave the 
execution to the ten- 
der mercies of some 
ignorant painter, lest 
he may consider his 
convenience. This re- 
minds me of a good 
joke: 

A man in a village 
of Holland was seen 
one day painting a 
heavy black line on the gable-end of his house and attach- 
ing to it a date, say November 18, 1882. Asked what he 
was about, he said: " I am moving my high-water mark up 
to where the boys can't scratch it out again. I am sick of 
their pranks. " 

The most imposing thing to me in this Sixth Biirger 
School was the sight revealed in the laboratory. Think of a 
fully equipped laboratory in an elementary school— not a 
high-school, a fact which I wish to emphasize. Here were 
amphitheatrically arranged seats, a well-stocked counter, and 
several large glass cases full of chemicals. What a wealth 
was collected there may be judged from the fact that the 




Fig. 274. 



NOTES FROM THE SCHOOLS OF LEIPSIC. 287 

costly platinum wire and sundry expensive chemicals were 
there used extensively without regard to cost. 

The lesson in chemistry I heard here proved that the 
professor, Rector Schmidt, was not only a man who could 
invent mechanical contrivances for illustrative teaching, 
but was also a master in teaching. One is apt to think (at 
least I have heard the charge made) that much illustrative 
or objective teaching prevents self -activity on the part of the 
pupils. This may be true, if the teacher thinks that by ex- 
plaining a fact in appealing to the senses he has done all 
that is necessary. But to see this man use the direct appeal 
to the senses merely as a starting-point, and then drive the 
boys by hard questioning into corners from which only their 
own exertion in thinking could rescue them, was a memora- 
ble sight. He was a Pestalozzian in principles and practice, 
and possessed all the qualities that were wanting in Pesta- 
lozzi. Had that reformer had Schmidt's talent not only for 
awakening thought but for exercising it, had he possessed 
his excellent executive power, Pestalozzi would not have 
been the great failure in teaching and managing that he 
was. I say this with due reverence for his undying phi- 
losQ-phj. 

All the teachers I saw at work in this school (see article 
" Notes from the Schools of Leipsic " ) were true assistants of 
the principal. I saw lessons in the primary and middle 
grades, and was soon convinced of the fact that the citizens 
of Leipsic have just cause to be proud of this school. It is a 
grand temple of popular education, this Sixth Biirger School 
in Leipsic ! When T left it I could not avoid comparing it 
with others I had seen in two worlds, and in all my recollec- 
tions I found nothing equal to it. 

10. Notes from the Schools of Leipsic. 

It is generally admitted that the best methodicians are 

not found in the higher schools of Germany. The teachers 

there are college and university graduates, who have a great 

deal of knowledge but little skill in applying it. If one 

20 



288 LEIPSIC (KINGDOM OF SAXONY). 

wishes to see good teaching one must visit so-called people's 
schools. But there are exceptions of rare merit. Some of 
these may be seen in Halle. Another I found in Leipsic. 
His name is Dr. Bottcher, and he is every inch a genius in 
the school-room and outside of it. 

The subject of his lesson was measuring circular planes. 
The class was Lower Prima (the thirteenth school year). 
What a rapidity in questioning and answering ; what a fer- 
tility in application ; what a versatility in referring to other 
fields of knowledge not intimately related to the subject of 
the day, but well adapted to furnish means for comparison 
and contrast ; and what a breathless attention on the part of 
these young men who in other lessons perhaps made sport 
of their teachers ! Even literature was drawn in and had to 
serve to enliven the lesson. 

When a boy mistook the square of a radius with the 
double of the radius and arrived at entirely wrong conclu- 
sions, the professor led the pupil ad absurdum and then 
sagely remarked, " It is the curse of an evil deed that contin- 
uously it must beget evil" (Schiller). The pupil saw the 
fun in his case and started over again. When the bell an- 
nounced the close of the lesson, I saw several of the pupils 
consult their watches, as though they could not believe that 
an hour had passed. I do not wonder that all candidates for 
positions in the high-schools of Leipsic are sent to Dr. Bott- 
cher to listen to his instructions. 

In the school described in a iDrevious chapter, called the 
"best-equipped school," I heard two lessons in the primary 
grades which gave unimpeachable evidence of the fact that 
objective teaching, and much of it at that, does not prevent 
the important function of the teacher, " exercise." For in a 
third grade I found the little boys multiplying orally with 
ease and rapidity such examples as 7 x 19, 18 x 25, 17 x 16. 
The first example was solved thus : Twenty times seven less 
seven. The second was solved first by saying, " Twenty times 
eighteen, plus five times ten, plus five times eight." Then it 
was solved by adding two naughts to eighteen and dividing 



EXAMINATIONS IN DRESDEN. 289 

this number by four. Examples in adding and subtracting, 
such as 1625 + 1335 and 1987— 1598, were solved with equal 
celerity. Fractions were also handled easily, such as J/ how 
many whole ones ? 7^ weeks how many days ? 4| + 5|= ? etc. 
An object-lesson in the lowest primary grade that I heard 
in the same school consisted of a review of what the children 
had observed in the woods during an excursion. Although 
the review gave evidence of a remarkably well-developed 
sense of observation, it recommended itself to me more by 
the wonderful skill in linguistic expression on the part of 
the pupils. I note this fact as a proof of my former state- 
ment, that objective instruction as a means is not faulty ; it 
only becomes so when it is considered an aim in itself. 



CHAPTER XI. 

dresden in saxony and munich in bavaria. 
1. Examinations in Dresden. 

On my trip through Thuringia, Saxony, Austria, and 
Switzerland, I arrived in Dresden at an unfavorable time. 
It was during examination week. Teachers who can not 
imagine an annual examination except by picturing before 
their inner eye a class of pupils sitting bent over their fools- 
cap paper answering a set of ten questions, may follow me 
into a school in Dresden to see that a totally different sight 
presented itself to me. 

The entire building was in holiday attire. On the lower 
floors several class-rooms were opened for visitors. There 
were collections of written work, not done for the occasion, 
but each pupil's daily work from Easter, 1887, till Easter, 
1888 — every copy-book, every composition -book, every 
book of problems, every language-book, every note-book, 
every spelling blank book used during the year, neatly la- 
beled with name, class, age, and address of the pupil. It 



290 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 



was a bewildering sight. All these rooms were visited for 
five hours a day all through the week by parents and friends 
of the pupils, who inspected the work closely. 

I turned away ashamed after looking over several stacks, 
thinking of the slovenly appearance of the books in my own 
schools and comparing them with this exquisite beauty of 
penmanship and this immaculate cleanliness. Other rooms 
were filled with drawings in portfolios and mounted draw- 
ings. The desks had been removed, and the walls were cov- 
ered with drawings. There had been no " natural selection," 
no " survival of the fittest," but every scrap, every drawing 
furnished during the year in that entire school (the Seventh 
Biirger School, on Ammon Street) was there, good, bad, and 
indifferent. 

After having feasted my eyes with the beautiful colored 
ornamental drawings furnished by the girls, studied the re- 
sults of manual work of the boys in form of pasteboard and 
wood-work, after having inspected the industrial work of the 
girls (knitting, crocheting, embroidering, patching, darning, 
sewing, etc.), I was conducted up-stairs to the session-room 

of the school. This 
room was very 
handsomely deco- 
rated, and arranged 
as indicated in Fig. 
275. Section A was 
a raised platform 
for the magistrate, 
the councilor of edu- 
cation, the inspectors, the rector of the school, the committee 
on public examination, and other persons of importance, 
who sat at a large ofiicial looking table and made notes. 
Section B was partitioned off for the class under examina- 
tion. The pupils faced the teacher, and in a long row at 
the banister sat the faculty of the school. Section C was 
reserved for the public, who attended the examination very 
numerously. 



i! A 


^^__^___B_ 


c 




1 ] 















Fig. 275. 



EXAMINATIONS IN DRESDEN. 291 

A commission determines a few days previously in what 
three branches the class is to be examined publicly. This 
examination is oral. The class under trial was a class of 
girls of eleven to twelve years of age. The branches in 
which they were examined were biblical history, physics, 
and languages. Fifty minutes were given to each branch, 
and each child was called upon, and rarely failed to respond. 
It was not possible to determine how much of this "per- 
formance" was show and how much honest work; but, tak- 
ing into consideration that the teacher went over very much 
ground, I concluded that there was very little, if any, pre- 
pared show. 

What I heard was apparently a review lesson pure and 
simple. The subjects had been determined upon and an- 
nounced two days previous, so that an elaborate deception 
was out of the question. If we further consider that this 
public examination does not decide the promotion of pupils, 
but is held chiefly to show the effectiveness of the school 
and to establish a closer connection between home and 
school, we may find many redeeming features in this kind 
of examining. 

In several other cities, chiefly in southern Germany, I 
noticed another kind of annual examination which com- 
mended itself to me. The school, teachers, and pupils, were 
all in holiday attire. Each class sat in its own accustomed 
room. The entire daily programme was carried out as it is 
done during the year, and the visitors, parents, and friends 
of the pupils, the city and school authorities, representatives 
of the learned professions, teachers from other schools, and 
other people interested in public education, came to the 
class-rooms and listened to the reviews going on. This was 
called review or visiting week. 

The lessons were so arranged (where it could be done 
without much disturbance) as to give each teacher of that 
particular school a chance to hear his colleagues also. This 
" visiting week," as it was called even in hotels, drew a great 
number of visitors to the school, people who would perhaps 



292 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

never have come if it had not been for this occasion. The 
card which usually hangs on the outside of each class-room 
door and which reads, '' Persons not connected with this 
school must not enter this room without permission of the 
authorities" — this card is removed and everybody is wel- 
come, provided he causes no disturbance. 

It happened in my presence that a lady, chagrined at the 
apparent ignorance of her " dear little sonnie," broke the 
rule and asked the teacher to give him a better chance to 
show off. The teacher, a good-natured, charitably inclined 
man, instead of ordering her off the premises, complied with 
her angry request, and pelted the sleepy youngster with 
questions, every one of which seemed to be very fair and 
appropriate ; but the youngster stared at him and failed to 
respond. So the teacher lowered the standard of his ques- 
tions, asking easier ones, and still the boy failed. At last 
the woman broke the painful silence, crying, " Wait till I 
get you home, Bob ! " 

This occurrence, though exceptional as it cea^tainly was, 
and several circumstances attending the examinations in 
Dresden, made me doubt the advisability of such public ex- 
aminations ; and if I consider that we have reason to object 
strongly to the customary American written examinations 
also, I admit that the proper and best form of examination 
has not yet been found, that despite all suggestions and dis- 
cussion the question as to the best mode of conducting ex- 
aminations in school is still an open one. The problem 
should be solved solely with regard to the educational influ- 
ence of examinations. 

2. Notes from the Schools of Dresden. 

In Dresden it was that I witnessed public examinations. 
I had no opportunities for seeing or hearing lessons. Being 
well acquainted with Prof, Kleinert, the editor of the fore- 
most German educational journal, I procured from him 
printed reports and courses of study which are very interest- 
ing reading-matter. They go here less deeply into statistical 



NOTES FROM THE SCHOOLS OF DRESDEN. 293 

details tlian we are accustomed in America, but what they 
publish is of more lasting value. I cull a few interesting 
facts from the annual report of 1888, and present them in 
English garb. The numbers given may not be very impos- 
ing, but the facts are. I think them well worth presenting 
to American readers. 

Vacation colonies for sickly school-children were estab- 
lished in the country, and three hundred and fifty-three pupils 
were benefited thereby. With renewed strength and vigor 
these children retm'ned after a sojourn of six weeks. On 
the outskirts of the city so-called city-vacation colonies were 
established last summer, which benefited four hundred and 
thirty pupils, who went out in the morning in six troops 
with their teachers, and returned home in the evening. " For 
many weeks, they were fed well and spent their time in 
playing and making excursions into the woods and fields on 
foot. The results of this enterprise also were very gratifying. 
Children who, at the beginning of the season, could hardly 
walk two miles without great fatigue, could at the close of 
the season walk five and six miles on a stretch. 

Play -Grounds.— The "Society for the Common Weal" 
secured the right to use some conveniently situated groves in 
the immediate vicinity of the city for play-grounds. Many 
children made use of them; four hundred and fifty-eight 
boys in twelve groups and four hundred girls in forty-eight 
groups played here daily, under the inspection of the teachers 
of gymnastics, male and female. It is the intention to secure 
for each school-house a public shady play-ground outside of 
the city. This prevents intercourse with morally bad ele- 
ments and contamination of vice in back alleys. The teach- 
ers are paid an extra salary for the time they devote to these 
play-grounds. 

Manual Training. — The manual training school sup- 
ported by the same society was attended by two hundred 
and forty-six pupils in fifteen classes. More is said of a simi- 
lar school elsewhere. (See pages 262-270.) 

Free Dinners. — The "Society for the Suppression and 



204 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

Prevention of Beggary " contributed twenty-five hundred 
marks toward furnishing warm dinners to needy school- 
children. The school authorities were enabled, with this and 
other sums of money, to furnish 58,424 plates of soup and 
other warm dishes. More than one thousand children en- 
joyed the luxury of a warm dinner who otherwise would 
have gone without any dinner, or, at best, with a cold lunch. 

Boy-Asylums. — The "Society for the Establishment of 
Boy -Asylums" maintain four such institutions (see page 
312) for boys, and one for girls. The city school authorities 
gave the desirable rooms, and suitable teachers were engaged 
who acted as leaders and supervisors. The children are here 
fed and kept after school hours, if they have no home to go 
to, both parents being out working, or the mother being 
worried by numerous little ones. Manual training is one of 
the chief occupations on winter evenings. 

Baths and Gardens. — The city government in summer 
oflp ered free bathing to children of needy parents. Other chil- 
dren paid a nominal price for admission. The bathing-places 
are in the Elbe River, and under constant supervision of 
swimming-masters. Ice-ponds for skating were kept clean at 
the expense of the city, and reserved for the use of school- 
children. The zoological garden is always open to school- 
children, one's card for free admission being confiscated in 
the event of misconduct. The botanical garden furnished 
the teachers of the city schools with seventy different plants, 
each of which in hundreds and thousands of specimens, for 
the use of pupils studying botany. 

What a difference between now and times gone by ; and 
yet people talk of "this materialistic age," "want of charity," 
and the like ! The world has become better, and associated 
charities extend their blessings to thousands of needy creat- 
ures whose like used to die in fence-corners and squalid gar- 
rets for want of sympathy and actual assistance. There is 
less sentimental twaddle and immensely much more charity 
than in former days ! 



MANUAL TRAINING IN GERMANY. 295 



3. Manual Training in Germany. 

Since the year 1880 more than two hundred manual 
training schools have been opened in Germany. Several 
of these, notably those in Halle, Leipsic, Dresden, Vienna 
(though this city is not now in Germany, it is essentially a 
German city), Munich, Miilhausen, I visited and reported 
upon the work done in them. When I arrived in Vienna I 
found the idea had made better headway than could have 
been expected in conservative Austria. Messrs. Petzel and 
Herbe, two Vienna teachers, the former of whom I have men- 
tioned elsewhere in this book, had recently made a journey 
through Germany for the sole purpose of inspecting the 
manual training-schools. Their report is very interesting. 
I translate a few passages from it, selecting those which 
point out the essential diiferences in these schools. 

In Schandau, Saxony, they found three distinct classes 
of schools: 1. A school for wood-carving in which patterns 
of geometrical forms are practiced, until the pupils' skill is 
developed enough to begin the ornamentation of articles of 
use, such as picture-frames, visiting-card plates, stools, easels, 
arm-chairs, tables, etc. These things are made of nut or 
cherry wood, are then stained or polished, and sell well. 
There are more than a dozen of these schools in the kingdom 
of Saxony. 2. An industrial school. Here baskets are 
woven — baskets of all sizes and patterns, from the stout mar- 
ket-basket to the fine flower-basket ; peeled willow switches, 
split cane, and even straw, are used. All articles made in 
this school find a ready sale. There are six such schools 
in Saxony. 3. A braiding-school, in which straw is used as 
material. Door-mats and other things, such as bottle-pack- 
ing, etc., are made here. These braiding and industrial 
schools sold goods for 5,372 marks in one year. There are 
seventeen such schools in Saxony. 

In Dresden, Saxony, a manual training school purely for 
educational purposes is established. It was opened in 1881 
with forty-seven pupils, and had in 1887 as many as one 



296 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

hundred and seventy-five, of which fifty-six were between 
six and eight years of age. Only cartoon or pasteboard 
work and work in wood is done here. The latter consists of 
joiner-work and carving. As in all other German manual 
training schools, the children learn to use tools by making 
articles, not merely doing exercises, as is done in Paris. It 
is quite amusing to see the boys find the necessity of leaving 
nothing plain, but carve furniture as neatly and handsomely 
as artisans. In a number of boy-asylums (see article " Kna- 
benhort") in Dresden manual occupations are also intro- 
duced. 

Strange as it may seem, modeling is introduced and 
very successfully taught in the blind asylums in Saxony. 
Groups of twenty children and more are taught in one class, 
and with almost incredible dexterity these children model in 
clay and wax, led only by their sense of touch. They are 
thus initiated into the world of forms, and seem to enjoy 
life better in consequence of it. One must have seen these 
blind children at work to believe it possible. 

The school visited had three classes. In Class I, only 
geometrical forms are made, but with an accuracy that 
might put to shame many a seeing child. In Class II, forms 
of life are made — leaves, plants, animal heads, and entire 
animal forms. Ad elephant, not larger than a man's fist, 
yet every part of which was in exact proportion and as well 
built as the '* much-lamented Jumbo," is still vividly im- 
pressed in the visitor's memory. It was made by a boy 
totally blind ! In Class III, wax-flowers are made. These 
are so astonishingly true to nature, that no one can believe 
it unless he has seen it done. Fuchsias, rose-buds, and 
other flowers were imitated in wax incredibly true in num- 
ber of leaves, thickness and size of leaves, petals, and stamens, 
except in color — that the teacher had to add. What a world 
of forms is opened to such children, who thus effectually 
learn to see with their finger-tips ! One blind boy in this 
institution found a radish in the garden. He picked it up, 
carried it to his own bedroopi, and there imitated it in clay 



MANUAL TRAINING IN GERMANY. 297 

or wax. When he brought his work to his teacher, the lat^ 
ter was much pleased to see that his instruction had made 
the boy self -active. 

In Stolherg^ Saxony^ the visitors found a school in which 
pasteboard-work, book-binding, and joining is done. No 
boy over fourteen years of age is here admitted. Instruc- 
tion is offered after school hours. (Course like that in 
Dresden.) 

In Aue^ Saxony, on the slope of the Erz Mountains, a 
most remarkable school is established. It is a tinsmith- 
school, and therefore ought to be classed among the special 
or industrial schools. It offers instruction to tin and zinc 
workers only. It is mentioned here simply because it has 
pupils of school-going age. 

In Markneukirchen, Saxony, near the Bohemian line, a 
single man, an enthusiast in manual training, has established 
a school, and teaches scroll-sawing and wood-carving. It is 
not a money-making affair, but a purely educational enter- 
prise. 

In Adorf, Saxony, a fine and well-attended manual 
training-school is maintained by the city authorities, in 
which joiners', turners', and carvers' work is taught. The 
Royal Saxon Ministry of Instruction aids this school with 
the stipend of eight hundred marks per annum. The great- 
est attention is paid to wood-carving. 

In Zwickau, Saxony, a school of this kind was opened 
in 1882 ; it has now over one hundred and fifty pupils. Car- 
toon or pasteboard work is here the favorite occupation. 
The course is well conceived, and innumerable objects of 
practical value are made here. It would need two pages of 
close print to mention them all. A wonderful taste in se- 
lecting paper and colors to make the articles pretty is ex- 
hibited, and all the articles have a ready sale. The first task 
in wood-work is to hollow out a square piece of birch-wood 
for a pencil-box. This makes the boys learn the use of the 
chisel, then a spoon is carved out ; after that and similar 
tasks, ornamental carving begins. Every object made has a 



298 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

practical use, and in ornamentation every line, every curve, 
every spiral applied is in harmony with the form of the ob- 
ject, or its use. 

Very few schools will he able to surpass the results of 
this one. There are tools enough in this school to supply 
each pupil with an entire set, and he is held responsible for 
their condition. The aim of this school is purely educa- 
tional, and the teachers hope that "it will accustom the boys 
to work ; train their hands to acquire skill ; direct their 
will-power upon the useful and beautiful ; give them an in- 
sight into industrial pursuits, as well as a comprehension of 
the forms of art-industry, and thus prepare not only a 
greater number of skilled artisans and thinking men, but 
also create a desire for more and more artistic w^ork in the 
purchasers — that is, get people to appreciate the beautifuL 
recognize beauty in designs, and discriminate between genu- 
ine artistic work and shoddy imitation." 

In Leipsic, Saxony, the manual training school gave the 
visitors much food for refiectioQ, especially the normal 
school for manual training recently opened. I have re- 
ported upon this at length [see page 265). 

In Halle, Prussia, in the great experimental station of 
education in Germany, the " Francke-Stiftungen," maintain 
a flourishing manual training school. There are also four 
"Knabenhorte" (boys-asylums) in which manual work is 
taught. Outside of the " Francke-Stiftungen " there is a 
manual training school in the city, which is reserved for the 
pupils of the high-schools. The sons of the most influ- 
ential and wealthy families attend it, and the number of 
pupils increases with every term. 

In Berlin, Prussia, the manual training schools are 
under the protection of her Majesty the Empress and Queen 
Victoria. One of these schools is situated in the Falk-Gym- 
nasium, another in the Lessing-Gymnasium. Other schools 
have been opened since 1887. Also a normal school for 
manual training teachers is established, and all efforts are 
made to come up to the standard of Leipsic and Vienna. 



MANUAL TRAINING IN GERMANY. 299 

In Bremen and other towns of northern Germany, 
schools of this kind are in a flourishing condition, but the 
report referred to says nothing about them. 

In Gorlitz, Prussia, these schools are the best in Prussia, 
as those in Leipsic are the best in Saxony. The teachers in 
Gorlitz avoid all money-making efforts, and base their in- 
struction strictly upon educational principles — that is to say, 
they are not moved by such considerations as, In what way 
may this or that occupation benefit the town ; but how may 
it benefit the pupil in develoj)ing his latent talents ? 

In Wuste-Giersdorf, Prussia, the school has a more 
worldly object, namely, to draw the children away from the 
unwholesome trade of weaving, which has for centuries been 
the leading trade of the town, and has shortened more lives 
than can be told. 

Dornhau, Oherwaldau, Gottesberg, and Rudolfswald, 
villages in the Prussian province of Silesia, have similar 
schools, all of which do good work. 

The gentlemen who reported their observations made on 
a journey through Saxony and Prussia, say, '' It is the unani- 
mous opinion of all concerned that the boys who have gone 
through a course of manual training, and then chosen a 
trade, are climbing the ladder of promotion faster than 
other apprentices." A well-informed gentleman in Gorlitz, 
maintains that the tradesmen and owners of factories select 
the pupils of the training schools in preference to unskilled 
hands, and give them the best testimonials, saying they are 
accustomed to work, and therefore are more diligent as well 
as more skilled. 

The following two pages of drawings, representing many 
useful things, are inserted here to give the reader an idea of 
the variety of articles made of wood in various schools of 
Germany. They are reproductions of the Swedish slojd 
system. Slojd (pronounce sloid) is a Swedish word, and 
may be rendered in English by the word skill, having in its 
modern application particular reference to manual skill. 
The drawings are not by far as handsome as those from 



300 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 




Figs. 270-5^95. 



MANUAL TRAINING IN GERMANY. 



301 




Figs. 29C-313. 



302 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

Paris, but they are eminently fit to illustrate the one vital 
difference between the French and German or Swedish 
schools, to wit : In France the pupils learn the use of tools 
by doing exercises ; in Germany they produce useful arti- 
cles, and thereby learn the use of tools indirectly ; or, in 
France the boys learn the grammar of manual work, in 
Germany the work itself, which carries the grammar with it. 

Figs. 276-313. 
1. Peg used in calculating-machine. 2a. Net- weaving needle. 2b. Pen- 
holder. 3a. Flower-prop. 36. Pencil-holder. 4. Slat for writing names of 
plants. 5. Wash-clamp. 6. Plug. 7. Paper-knife. 8. Loom-bow. 9. Butter- 
spattle. 10. Ruler. 11. Stand. 12. Spoon. 13. Hammer-handle. 14. Spoon. 
15. Chisel-handle. 16. Butter-spoon. 17. Kitchen-board. 18. Stocking-stretch- 
er. 19. Sugar-shovel. 20. Large stocking-stretcher. 21. Sickle-sharpener. 
22, 23. Clothes-hooks. 24. Gardener's plug. 25. Axe-handle. 26. Soap-dish. 
27, Hack knife. 28. Grocer's shovel. 29. Bread-comb. 30. Flower-stand. 31. 
Bow used in calculating-machine. 32. Foot-stool. 33. Large spoon. 34. Wash- 
beater. 35. Loom-roll. 

5. What I saw in Munich. 

It was on the 16th of March that I reached Munich, the 
day on which in Berlin the Emperor William was buried. 
Munich looked like a widow in her weeds. From the mass- 
ive towers of the " Frauenkirche " and other churches hung 
broad and long black flags. All business houses and in- 
numerable dwelling-houses had German or Bavarian flags 
out draped with crape, or black flags. Not a single store 
was open. The people promenaded in dark-colored Sun- 
day attire through the streets. Hundreds and thousands of 
ladies and gentlemen were seen wearing crape on the sleeve, 
and every military officer had his epaulets and his helmet 
craped. Not a variegated ribbon, not a bright-colored dress 
was seen anywhere on the streets ; not a peal of joyous 
laughter, but all the signs of deep-felt sorrow^ as though all 
belonged to the personal friends of the dead emperor, and 
were walking behind his hearse. 

From 10 a. m. till 4 p. M. no business was done ; no res- 
taurant, no cigar-stand was open. At places the slowly 
marching multitude stopped to view some tastefully ar- 



WHAT I SAW IN MUNICH. 303 

ranged funeral decoration in a shop-window, tlie emperor's 
bust veiled with crape amid a beautiful and bountiful dec- 
oration of flowers and leafy plants. The day was warm, 
sunny, and the air balmy. The churches were full to their 
utmost capacity, and when the dinner-hour arrived the mul- 
titude decreased perceptibly, only to turn out again after one 
o'clock in full force to take up its slow march through the 
streets. "What a change!" I thought. Twenty-two years 
ago William fought these people and conquered them, and 
to-day they consider him one of their own. 

Of course there was no chance for visiting schools that 
day ; but on the following days I spent some very profitable 
hours in the schools of the city. I do not, as a rule, admire 
German school architecture, but here I gave way to a burst 
of enthusiasm, when I saw a public school-house, and a pri- 
mary or people's school at that, provided with electric bells, 
clocks, and light, with sumptuous gymnasiums, wide corri- 
dors, and spacious school-yards and gardens. But the most 
novel feature of this school was that it had a regular bath- 
ing establishment, with numerous bath-tubs that could be 
filled with warm and cold water. I was assured that they 
were used quite frequently. It had been found desirable to 
provide the new school-houses of the city with bath-tubs be- 
cause the poorer classes did not possess this commodity in 
their own houses. 

'• If," said the rector, " harmonious education is to be our 
aim — that is to say, the development of a strong intellect 
and a good heart — then the strong, vigorous body must be in- 
cluded, and the latter is gained by good food, plenty of exer- 
cise in form of manual work and gymnastics, and cleanli- 
ness. We simply offer the means for cleanliness as a neces- 
sary requisite of an education." 

The idea is unquestionably correct. The more home ed- 
ucation and parental care recedes in these latter days, the 
more must schools provide for them by suitable substitutes. 
These provisions for cleanliness in Bavaria can be defended 
with precisely the same argument with which warm dinners 
21 



304 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

in Paris are defended, or vigorous gymnastic exercises in 
Prussia, or free clothes and text-books for indigent pupils in 
America. They belong to the sum total of conmion-school 
education. It is the business of the state to do the greatest 
possible good to the greatest possible number, provided it is 
for the benefit of the state as such. I can not see how we 
can refuse to have bath-tubs in school, like the Bavarians, 
hot dinners like the Parisians, manual work and gymnastic 
halls like the Saxons and Prussians. 

It is but natural that a school system which has at its 
head a leader like Dr. Rohmeder is in the foremost ranks of 
educational progress. Here in Munich I found flourishing 
manual training schools, Kindergarten, admirable primary 
schools, well -reputed high-schools, an industrial art-school, 
sundry special schools, such as an art academy, conservatory 
of music, and a university. 

In a second-year grade I witnessed a lesson in orthogra- 
phy, the results of which were very fine. The results of 
an object and language lesson were dictated, and all the new 
and difficult words viewed on the board. When the work 
was afterward examined, the teacher and I found that among 
forty-four pupils twenty-one had made no mistake what- 
ever ; twenty had made one mistake in a word the orthogra- 
phy of which is still a mooted question ; two had made two 
or three mistakes ; and one only had made fifteen mistakes. 
This last one was a sickly child who suffered from epilepsy. 
The piece dictated was b}^ no means easy, and might have 
offered difficulties to many an older child. 

From a lesson in arithmetic which followed I gathered 
the following examples. The reader will please notice that 
this was the second year : 

43-h9+7=? 6x8-36=? 

32 + 27=? 45-7= ? 

28+? = 53. fof42 = ? 

29 how many halves ? 65 — 8 — 7 = ? 

64 - 19 = ? 63 - ? = 37. 

56 = ? X 6. 8 = i of what number ? 



AN IDEAL OF A COURSE OF STUDY. 305 

DiWde 51 into 3 equal numbers. 

How many whole ones are 56 quarters ? 

It was a pleasure to see the little urchins get up and say: 
" Five sixths of 42 ? One sixth of 42 is seven, then five 
sixths must he five times that, which is 35." No slate or 
pencil was used. I selected the above examples promiscu- 
ously from a great number given out in quick succession, 
and solved orally more rapidly than I could write them 
down. 

In a third-year grade I heard a lesson in home geography 
which reminded me vividly of Prof. Schmidt's historical 
pictures of the city of Leipsic (see p. 285). The teacher had 
sketched a city plan on the board and proceeded to widen 
the children's horizon by starting from known points. The 
history of Munich greatly assisted him, for the city has been 
widened three times, and the ancient fortifications can still 
be traced ; even the names of the streets betray their former 
designations. I enjoyed the teacher's circumspection and 
the tact with which he drew into use what of geographical 
knowledge was already established. 

In other classes I heard lessons which resembled the best 
I had heard elsewhere. Altogether I was well pleased with 
the results of the primary schools. 

6. An Ideal of a Course of Study. 

This was found in Munich. Though in many cities in 
Germany I had noticed well-arranged courses, this one struck 
me as remarkable, inasmuch as it did not contain the matter 
of instruction chopped into bits, but left the teacher of each 
grade free to divide the matter according to the needs of his 
class. Of course, this presupposes a corps of teachers who 
are prepared professionally. With us such a course of study 
would hardly sufiice, since too many of our teachers have 
no professional training ; but I wish to bear testimony to 
the fact that teachers of large experience and much method- 
ical and didactic skill might be left more free to select the 
matter of instruction than is done in many graded school 



306 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

systems. A little freedom in this direction bears good fruit. 
The best feature of the course referred to, though, seemed to 
me that each branch of study was introduced by a set of 
principles of method, according to which instruction was to 
be given. These " preambles " contain much good sense, as 
may be seen from the following English rendition of a few 
leading sets : 

A. Reading. A^m.— Instruction in reading shall enable 
the pupils: 1. To read fluently, with proper pronunciation 
and emphasis ; and, 2. To enable them to make the contents 
of the reading-matter their own so that they may obtain a 
perfect comprehension of the pieces under consideration, and 
a taste for good literature. 

(a.) In every grade of the course attention is to be paid 
to the so-called mechanical^ logical., and aesthetic reading. 

(6.) Since reading is nothing else than a correct repetition 
of the thoughts of others, a complete comprehension of these 
thoughts must go hand in hand with the reading. This 
makes it necessary : 1. To give the pupils a good model in 
reading; 2. To awaken a comprehension of the subject-mat- 
ter by skillful questioning; 3. To make the pupils tell in 
their own words what they read ; 4. To call for the meaning 
of an entire passage before each sentence is treated separate- 
ly ; 5. To call attention to the forms of expression after the 
underlying thought is understood ; 6. To call for written re- 
production of the reading-matter as often as time and cir- 
cumstances allow. In discussing the reading-matter, the 
unity of thought is to be preserved by not introducing irrele- 
vant matter ; but, for the sake of thorough understanding, it 
is essential to refer to matter previously treated so that by 
means of comparison and contrast new cognitions shall be 
properly founded upon others. 

{c.) Oral expression is to be practiced: 1. By accustoming 
the children to speak in complete, well-rounded sentences; 
2. By oral repetition of the contents of a reading piece after 
they have been understood ; 3. By oral prose rendition of 
poetry ; 4. By memorizing and declaiming six to twelve easy 



AN IDEAL OF A COURSE OF STUDY. 307 

model pieces from tlie reader. Proper emphasis is invari- 
ably the result of perfect comprehension of the matter, 

{d, ) Both substance and form of the reading-matter is to 
be utilized in lessons in orthography, grammar, and compo- 
sition. 

(e.) For history, geography, physics, chemistry, botany, 
zoology, etc., the reader contains many valuable contribu- 
tions which should be used. 

B. Language. Aim. — Instruction in language is to en- 
able the pupil to apply the laws of " New High German," so 
far as they are necessary to the pupil to comprehend, speak, 
and write the language within the limited course of the 
people's school ; instruction in grammar is therefore to be 
restricted to that which is absolutely necessary in practice. 

(a.) In the lower grades the pupils learn to speak and 
write correctly, ex usu — that is to say, they are practiced in 
the correct use of word and construction forms orally and 
in writing, until that habit is gained which results in a cor- 
rect feeling or instinct for language. This, for the time, 
guides the pupil, and in higher grades assists materially in 
learning grammar. A pupil who has that sensitive ear for 
language which tells him whether an expression is right or 
not, will easily learn the laws of the language (grammar), 
because he recognizes them in his own speech and in that 
of others ; while a pupil who has failed to acquire skill in 
the correct use of the language will only with difficulty ac- 
quire the grammar, it having to be learned by memory alone. 

(6.) All forms and rules should be deduced from models 
taken from the reading-matter ; proverbs and examples from 
classic literature are preferable to any other examples. A 
rule which has been discovered by comparison should first 
be framed by the pupils themselves, then it may be rendered 
more comprehensive by the teacher, and brought into defi- 
nite form. It is not advisable to let more than one rule be 
searched for in a paragraph. One difficulty at a time is 
sufficient. And a form or a rule, once recognized, should 
be practiced till it becomes the inalienable property of the 



308 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

learner. So, then, there are three steps : 1. Finding the 
rule by comparison of similar examples ; 2. Looking for 
proofs of the rule in literature ; 3. Incessant practice in ap- 
plying the rule by tasks suitable to the age and grade of the 
pupils. 

(c.) In framing models for comparison, repetitions are to 
be avoided. New thoughts should be offered, so that, by en- 
riching the treasures of the pupils' language, their stores 
of thought shall be increased as well. Physics, natural his- 
tory, geography, history, and such branches as are thought- 
bearing, should be made to yield a plentiful crop of models 
for language- work, so that the entire course of study becomes 
a homogeneous whole. 

(d.) Etymology should always be based on syntax, in or- 
der to enable the pupil to recognize the word as part of the 
sentence which determines its form. 

C. Orthography. Aim.— Instruction in spelling should 
aim at correct writing of simple documents, according to the 
spelling in vogue, including punctuation-marks. 

(a.) The means to that end should be to let the words to 
be written be seen and heard clearly first. Afterward words 
may be grouped and practiced according to similarity and 
dissimilarity, to awaken consciousness of underlying rules. 
All rules which suffer from too numerous exceptions are to 
be omitted. 

(6.) The exercises in orthography should consist in oral 
and written reproduction of words in the form of sentences : 
1. In copying ; 2. In dictation ; 3. In writing memorized 
stanzas and prose paragraphs ; 4. In writing the pupil's own 
thoughts. 

(c.) Material for orthographic exercises is found in the 
reading-matter, and in every branch of study on the cur- 
riculum. New words (technical) that occur in any lesson 
should be noted on the blackboard at once, and left there for 
some time. 

(d.) Incorrect writing is to be prevented, so as to avoid 
the formation of incorrect word-pictures in the memory. 



CAUSE AND EFFECT IN GEOGRAPHY. 309 

Words which may give occasion for making mistakes 
should be presented in writing, and if possible in print, be- 
fore they are dictated. It is, at any stage of the course, bet- 
ter to avoid mistakes than to correct them. 

Other branches of study are introduced similarly, but it 
would go beyond the object of this volume to translate 
them all. 

7. Cause and Effect in Geography. 

It was a spirited lesson in geography that I heard in 
Munich, and I think it worth sketching. The children were 
of the same age as our pupils in the highest grade of the 
grammar-school course — thirteen or fourteen years, I should 
think. Maps were there in abundance, and a handsome 
large globe was brought in. 

The teacher first stated the fact that the heat equator is 
not synonymous with the mathematical equator ; that it is 
an irregular line lying on an average of ten degrees north 
of the actual equator. Now he led the pupils to find 
causes for this apparently singular fact. Did not the sun 
strike the earth with equal force north and south of the 
equator ? With the aid of a large globe, on which the 
prevalence of water on the southern hemisphere could be 
seen distinctly by all the pupils of the class, the fact was 
soon established that this prevalence of water caused more 
evaporation than on the northern hemisphere. Evaporation, 
however, they knew from the little study of physics they 
had had, caused absorption of heat, while land would radiate 
the heat it received and thus cause a higher degree of tem- 
perature in the atmosphere. 

Now proofs of this fact were searched for, and it was in- 
teresting to see how quickly the pupils reasoned backward 
from effect to cause. In the Deserts of Sahara and Grobi they 
thought that they found the effect of great heat on large 
bodies of land. In the indented coast-line of Europe they 
found the cause of a temperate climate and an absence of 
dreary wastes of deserts. 



310 DRESDEiV IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

Then the climate of the different continents was discussed 
and the general rule established, (a) that great bodies of 
land have hot summers and fierce winters. Proofs : Inner 
North America, inner Asia, inner Australia, even Russia in 
Europe ; (b) much water was the cause of cool summers and 
mild winters. Proofs : Western Europe, South America, 
Southern Africa, and the Asiatic isles and peninsulas. 
Water tempers the climate. 

I was very sorry not to jDossess skill in writing short- 
hand, because the further part of this lesson was truly ad- 
mirable. I can only give its bare results, and must abstain 
from even an attempt at outlining it. 

The latitude, it was easily inferred, caused the climate. 
But the latter was greatly modified — that is, made milder or 
fiercer — by the situation or elevation of the country. A pla- 
teau would naturally be cooler than a low plain under the 
same latitude. Quito in Ecuador, and Para in Brazil, both 
almost under the equator, were yet very different in their 
climates, the former being situated ten thousand feet above 
the level of the sea, the latter almost on a level with it. 

Mountain-chains like the Andes, the Rockies, the Hima- 
layas, the Alps, etc., are also causes of great differences in 
climate, as they may protect the land from certain atmos- 
pheric currents and other influences. This was proved by 
the great fertility of the eastern slope and the rainless west- 
ern slope of the Andes, also by the two slopes of the Rockies. 

These different considerations were summed up in this : 
Latitude, formation, and elevation of a country condition its 
climate. 

But climate alone does not make a country a desirable 
place to dwell in. Other things are needed to make it fertile, 
otherwise Australia ought to be overcrowded, whereas it is but 
thinly populated. Irrigation is an important condition. Look 
at Western and Central Europe, at the United States : these 
countries are admirably irrigated — i. e., watered and drained. 
The teacher dwelt on this by showing that the United States 
have in their Mississippi Valley the granary of the world, 



CAUSE AND EFFECT IN GEOGRAPHY. 311 

a most ideally irrigated, fertile region. Fertility was traced 
to irrigation in France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Spain. 

The latter country served as an example to prove that 
climate, elevation, and irrigation will not suffice to maintain 
life if the soil is not favorable. In Spain the forests that 
used to crown the lovely mountains, and constantly feed the 
picturesque and navigable rivers meandering through the 
valleys, have been uprooted. Ruthless extermination of the 
forests had made the hills bare, the rain had washed the fer- 
tile soil from the unprotected mountain-sides, and the rivers 
now dry up in summer and threaten death and destruction 
in spring when the melting of the snow fills the river-beds 
and causes inundations. 

So, then, proper soil is another condition of life, and we 
have the principle that climate is caused by latitude, for- 
mation, and elevation of the country ; that proper climate, 
favorable irrigation, and good soil condition an exuberant 
vegetation. Vegetation, of course, is a condition necessary 
for the animal kingdom. But, while the latter depends for 
subsistence upon vegetation, the former is in no small degree 
dependent upon animal matter for subsistence. So, again, 
we have cause and effect. And the chain lengthens : latitude 
and elevation cause climate ; climate and irrigation condition 
vegetation. All these are necessary to support the animal 
kindom. 

Where all these conditions are favorable, human exist- 
ence is assured ; and the human population of a country 
stands in exact proportion to the presence or absence of these 
conditions. This was conclusively demonstrated by the 
population of North America. The United States, situated 
in the temperate zone, traversed by lofty mountain-ranges 
which afford admirable irrigation, possessing on the whole 
a very fertile soil, had all the conditions of an exuberant 
vegetation and support of animal and human beings. Con- 
sequently, we find them populated by about sixty millions, 
while north and south of them, in Canada and Mexico, the 
population is comparatively sparse. 



312 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

The pupils were almost breathless with attention, and, 
when called upon, g-ave geographical facts in support of the 
teacher's assertions quite readily. I was told that this was 
a review lesson, which, while offering new vistas into the 
science of geography, caused the pupils to brush up their 
knowledge of geographical facts. 

The task given out for the next lesson was: " Find proofs 
for the truths we have discovered to-day." 

" Will they be able," I asked, " to find more proofs ? " 

" I should think so ! " was the reply of the teacher. " They 
worry their fathers, mothers, uncles, and aunts for further 
proofs; they consult the libraries, they ransack every source 
of information, until they find proofs. A truth thus dis- 
covered, as we did in this lesson, acts like leaven, it grows 
and induces the learner to proceed in his investigations. 
And it will scarcely be necessary to recapitulate these facts, 
for indigenous thoughts are like words engraved with steel 
into granite, while borrowed thoughts, such as are learned 
by heart from the printed page, are words written with a 
reed on dry sand; the next rain will wash them out." 

8. "Knabenhort" (Asylum for Boys). 

In Germany and Austria it has been repeatedly remarked 
in Parliament and teachers' meetings that a degeneration in 
the manners and morals of youth is noticeable in late years. 
It is claimed, not in Europe alone, but with us too, that the 
male youth grows rough and unmanageable by being allowed 
to run wild. Short-sighted people have laid the cause of 
this fact — if fact it be — at the door of the common school. 
Speculations are rife as to proper remedies, and I am glad to 
notice here that a most effective one has been found which 
deserves to be imitated in the United States. 

Mr. R. Petzel, a teacher in Vienna, whom I took occasion 
to mention elsewhere, has addressed the Austrian Govern- 
ment in regard to this matter. I take pleasure in presenting 
an abstract of his essay. If we admit, for the sake of the 
argument, that the morals and manners of our boys are less 



"KNABENHORT" (ASYLUM FOR BOYS). 313 

commendable than in former years, we must in justice also 
admit a very vital change in the social condition of the 
families whence these boys come. Only about a generation 
ago, the cities were crowded with thousands of tradesmen 
and ai'tisans who had their own workshops, in which the 
boys were apt to be found at work after school hours. To- 
day machine-work has absorbed the many little shops, and 
huge factories with tall chimney-stacks and steam-engines 
perform the work which formerly diligent workmen did at 
home. The men are in the factories from 6 A. M. till 6 P. M., 
and often later here in Europe. Thousands, yea, hundreds 
of thousands of women have found occupation within the 
gloomy and sooty atmosphere of these factories. The great 
battle for subsistence deprives parents of time and inclination 
to look after their children. And the public schools have 
not increased their educational activity in the same ratio in 
which home education has receded. School is what it was, a 
school for instruction, not so much an asylum of education. 
Though it has increased its usefulness immensely, the 
prevailing social misery overpowers its influence. Where 
formerly it was an adjunct to home education, it is now ex- 
pected to be both school and home at the same time. 

The author referred to says : " It would lead us too far to 
refute the claim that faulty treatment in school causes this 
degeneration, for schools can not correct the manners and 
morals of children while they are not within its pale of in- 
fluence. But it seems desirable to call attention to a remedy 
the good effect of which we have noticed in many places. 
It is the establishment of boys' homes or boys' asylums. 

" The great majority of children in cities come from 
very poor families. The parents, in this age of machine and 
factory labor, are compelled to leave their children unat- 
tended during the greater part of the day, and many boys 
take advantage of this to run wild in the streets. It is an 
ancient truth that unemployed hands work mischief. Such 
unemployed children are apt to suffer from neglect. In the 
larger cities of Germany societies have been formed whose 



314 DRESDEN IN SAXONY AND MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

aim it is to collect children of school-going age who, for 
want of proper home influence, are in danger of being lost 
in the paths of vice. These children are gathered in rooms 
called "Childrens' Homes, or Boys' Asylums," after school 
hours, and are there supervised by suitable persons, chiefly 
teachers of the common schools, and employed pleasantly in 
such a manner that their entire education is assisted and 
supplemented. 

" These asylums are not schools ; they are intended to re- 
store (or act as substitutes for) the missing home-training. 
The boys here learn circumspection and discretion ; are 
trained to order, obedience, regular activity, and good man- 
ners. They are here kept from the degrading influence of 
the street and back-alley companions. Only teachers who 
have the reputation of being philanthropists, and who gov- 
ern by the Christian spirit of love, are employed. That the 
efforts of these societies are not in vain can be observed in 
the " Knabenhorte " of Munich, Leipsic, Dresden, Halle, Co- 
logne, Frankfort, and other cities. To show how these insti- 
tutions work, we will go into a more minute statement of 
their programme. 

" Soon after dinner on days when there is no school, and 
on school days after four o'clock P. M. , the boys come to the 
' Hort,' and remain till seven, at some places till eight, in 
the evening. There they receive a lunch of milk and bread 
at four o'clock ; then they do their home-tasks for school, 
aided, if need be, by the supervisor. After that an hour is 
spent in social games out-doors. On rainy days, lotto, 
checkers, dominos, and other indoor games are indulged in. 
Some who like to read are furnished with books — good 
books, the best that can be found. After that an hour or 
two is spent in manual work. This consists of folding 
paper, making pasteboard articles, modeling, carving in plas- 
ter, chiseling, joiner-work, scroll-sawing, and such like work. 
Every boy finds some favorite occupation and is kept at it. 

" These hours are full of gayety and frolic, and pure hap- 
piness seems to dwell here where idleness is considered the 



"KNABENHORT" (ASYLUM FOR BOYS). 



315 



blackest of vices. From time to time cheerful song-s are 
sung in chorus while the work goes on. At times the super- 
visor tells thrilling stories of adventure, or some musically 




inclined member of the happy family plays a piece on a mu- 
sical instrument, be it only a Jew's harp. Every innocent 
enjoyment is welcome. The manual training in these asy- 



316 DRESDEN IN SAXONY ANP MUNICH IN BAVARIA. 

lums has not the purpose of making- special artisans, but of 
training the hoys in the use of tools, and giving" them occu- 
pation during their leisure hours. They make kites when 
the season of kites comes, make tops, carve and rig boats — in 
short, they make their own playthings. With the training 
of the hand goes the training of the eye, a pleasant stimula- 
tion of the intellect, and all this will result in making better 
men as well as better artisans of them. 

" In summer, the boys play much out-doors, and the su- 
pervisor is one of their own number. He has no privileged 
position in the social games, save that which his greater fer- 
tility for suggesting and arranging games gives him. He 
is the boys' leader pure and simple, a true pedagogue (boy- 
leader). Excursions into parks and out into the commons 
are frequent. Baths are taken in a shallow pond or stream- 
let. In winter skates are furnished, and tlie whole band 
goes out skating or coasting. At every one of these excur- 
sions the supervisor is among the boys, and always ' in the 
thick of it.' 

" In order to secure good supervisors the society pays a 
good price — say four marks per evening. This is a hand- 
some addition to the teacher's salary. In Leipsic these men 
get a fixed addition of seven hundred and fifty marks to 
their salary as common-school teachers ; in Halle, six hun- 
dred marks. In order that it may not appear as though 
these asylums are purely benevolent institutions, a tuition- 
fee of ten German pennies (two and a half cents) per week is 
asked. At Christmas a grand festival is held, for which 
every boy must do something. Deserving boys are clothed 
on this occasion ; school-books are distributed, and even sav- 
ings-bank books, with a handsome credit ' to begin with.' A 
real home with all its love-tokens and various interests is 
created, and it is no wonder that the boys love the ' Hort,' 
as children love their home when their parents are well 
situated and inclined to make home happy. 

"These Knabenhorte have had results which far sur- 
pass all expectation, and they are now established in every 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 317 

large city of the German Empire. A few have just been 
opened in Switzerland also. Strict order and discipline are 
kept, but not that death-like stillness so frequently noticed 
in school. All rudeness, indoors or outdoors, is punished by 
an exclusion from a favorite occupation, while innocent en- 
joyment is encouraged. Many a boy who was going down 
an inclined plane has been brought back to the level path 
of duty by the wholesome influence of the Knabenhort, and 
thousands have been prevented from ever leaving it. 

" No better testimonial can be given to these institutions 
than that in many cities the number of applications for ad- 
mission is fourfold greater than the number of pupils that 
can be accommodated. It has become a great privilege to 
be admitted." 

The establishment of " Knabenhorte " in America may 
be only a palliative remedy for the correction of social evils 
that exist in an alarming degree, but, still, it is the most 
effective known as yet. A Knabenhort may prove to be 
that ounce of prevention which saves the pound of legisla- 
tive cure. There is no reason whatever why the girls might 
not be benefited likewise. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PARIS. 

1. Industrial Education of Boys in Paris. 

An Argument. — There can be no doubt whatever that 
the Americans and Germans have solved the "manual 
training question " — the sensible resolution of American 
school-men not to make artisans, but aim at a many-sided 
training of the hand by employing it in no definite trade, 
but in occupations that are common to many if not all 
trades. It is just so with arithmetic. If we should follow 
the dictates of the merchant, he would drive us into business 



318 PARIS. 

rules at the expense of other arithmetical work necessary for 
thorough training of the mind. If we were to follow the 
artists, they would propel us in another direction quite as 
foreign to the purposes of the common school. If we were 
to follow the ideas of certain short-sighted " practical " 
people, we should have to make tinsmiths', carpenters', cob- 
blers' shops, etc., of our manual training halls. The very 
nature and character of the American school are opposed to 
that ; though it has often to bow before the dictates of a 
senseless spirit of utilitarianism, it always, after a time, re- 
turns to its true object, to wit, to offer the multitude what 
is of common use, or to do the greatest good to the greatest 
number. 

In the following pages I intend to state accurately what 
the Frenchmen do in the way of manual training. I trust 
that my readers will without prejudice read this report. 
My words may at times sound enthusiastic, because the work 
is really very fine ; but from the start I must emphatically 
assert that the whole course of manual training in Paris, as 
I saw it in operation in more than a dozen schools, starts 
with an entirely erroneous intention. It is this : " We want 
to give our boys skill in some trades, so that they may be 
able to abridge the time of apprenticeship, and get to earn 
a living at an early age." Not, that I saw this in print or 
heard it from the teachers, but it can be read clearly and un- 
mistakably from all they do. One more word by way of ex- 
planation : The schools I shall speak of are not private 
schools, nor special schools, but purely and simply common 
schools, and elementary schools at that, not high-schools. 

Of the one hundred and seventy-four boys' schools in 
Paris,* maintained from state and communal funds, there are 
ninety-nine (according to a report of 1887) which, having 
room enough, have arranged a workshop. Others will fol- 
low soon, as I understood from Monsieur Grandpierre, the 



* There are one hundred and seventy -five communal girls' schools in 
Paris. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 319 

inspector of " travaux luanuel " (manual work). All the 
school-buildings I saw which were specially built for school 
purposes had a large hall on the fii'st floor. This hall is used 
for three purposes : (a) for recreation at recess and on rainy- 
days ; (b) for gymnastic and military drill ; (c) as a dining- 
hall at noon. Part of this large hall, extending over the en- 
tire floor, is partitioned off for a workshop. All the shops 
I saw contained from twelve to twenty joiners' work-benches ; 
six to ten lathes ; one or two forges; a great number of 
vises, tool-boxes, many models, and much material, such as 
wood, rod-iron, stones, and imitation marble blocks. 

On the walls are exhibited models to be reproduced and 
copied. These in themselves are the course prescribed. 
There is no printed course — at least not to my knowledge — 
and I searched sufficiently for it to know that there is none. 
The models are of four kinds : 1. Of wood, being joiner's and 
carpenter's work; 2. Of wood and horn, being turner's work; 
3. Of iron, being smith's work ; 4. Of stone and plaster, being 
builder's work. The fourth kind does not really belong to 
the course, being extra work of that one particular school in 
which I saw it. In short, joiner's, turner's, and smith's work 
is learned. Now, pause a moment, dear reader, and think 
of the consequences. Here are ninety-nine schools of about 
five hundred pupils each. All these boys learn the trades of 
joining, turning, and forging. If not perfectly, they cer- 
tainly get start enough in these three directions to feel in- 
clined to make a living in these trades. 

What will these boys do in a few years when these three 
or four professions are well provided with artisans ? Will 
not the supply be greater than the demand ? And what will 
the superfluous number of young joiners, carpenters, turn- 
ers, and smiths do, after having been systematically trained 
in these industries and in no others ? Besides, what moral 
right has any government to thus predestine the future of 
thousands and tens of thousands of boys ? It seems a most 
short-sighted policy. But, then, it is argued that Paris 
needs just these apprentices, that in these branches of in- 
22 



320 PARIS. 

dustry Paris is particularly interested, etc. Well, I am not 
sufficiently acquainted with the population of Paris and its 
needs to prove the contrary, but I strongly suspect that to 
train joiners, turners, and smiths is a most unwise proced- 
ure, and that the time will come when there will be an over- 
production. 

What, then ? Ah ! well, it is claimed, school is not an im- 
movable fixture in all its departments. It will adjust it- 
self to changed circumstances and teach other trades when 
others are desired. This is so decidedly a French argu- 
ment that I need not continue to combat it. It is unmindful 
of the sound principles on which rests the entire practice of 
the American as well as German common school. 

I. Results. — And now I will proceed to state what I saw 
done in the workshops. My objection against the work is 
aimed at the course and not at the method of teaching. The 
latter is admirable. So systematic and careful is the teach- 
ing that its results far surpass every expectation I had enter- 
tained. In Rue Titon, eleventh arroudissement, I saw a class 
of twenty-four boys at work at their joiners' tables and 
turning-lathes. The teacher, a skilled artisan, went over 
the entire course, carefully showing me all the steps, and I 
sketched some of the models, knowing that " Augenschein 
gilt fiir Beweis." Others which I failed to copy on the spot 
I copy from a book of models. Though the collection I 
offer is not one twentieth of the entire number, it is a typi- 
cal one. 

A plain rough board of hard wood a foot in length is 
given to the pupil to plane smooth, sand-paper, and polish. 
It may take the boy a number of weeks to accomplish this ; 
but, if it should take him a year, he is not permitted to pro- 
ceed to the next piece of work till that board is found in 
every way correct as per order, namely, smooth and with 
parallel corners and sides. (See Fig. 305.) 

Next a square post is to be reduced to an octagonal col- 
umn. Same conditions as in task No. 1. (See Fig. 306.) 

Then saw and chisel come into requisition and are used 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 321 



in practicing " dovetailing," and very accurate work is re- 
quired. (See Fig. 307.) 



Fig. 305. 



Fig. 306. 



a 



'3 



DOVE-TAILING. 

Fig. 307. 




Fig. 308. 



Fig. 309. 



After thus learning to use plane, saw, chisel, etc., the 
first joint is made. The simplest kind of a frame is pro- 



322 



PARIS. 



duced. (See Fig. 808.) The same practice is had with a box, 
the joints of which are made by some pupils with dovetail- 
ing. (See Fig. 309). 

Among the models furnished by the pupils, few of which 



D 



\ 



t 



Fig. 310. 



Fig. 311. 



Fig. 312. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 323 

I venture to copy, I found also a joint (see Fig. 310) which 
was made of two different kinds of wood which fitted exactly. 
It was a very intricate combination, and evidently a fine 
piece of work, of which teacher and pupils were proud. 

Figs. 311 and 312 show not only how a frame-joint is 
made, but how it is drawn first. Of course, there are many 
steps omitted between this and the other models ; but I had 
not the time to copy them, nor can it be my object to 
furnish a manual for this kind of work. Indeed, I should 
have to restrict myself entirely to reporting upon what is 
done in the manual training department, if I should give 
more than a bare outline in these pages. The few sketches I 
offer are gathered here and there in different schools. They 
enable the reader to see what is being done in the carpenter 
class. Thus the drawings are made, and well made, as I 
know, from ocular inspection ; but these sketches do not ad- 
equately show the real manual work or its results. In order 
to illustrate this, I procured the work of Messrs. Laubier and 
Bougueret, which exhibits in lithotype the models made by 
the pupils of a school in the Rue Tournefort. They show 
the methodical steps in acquiring a skill in the use of the 
saw and chisel, and I offer the models here in the hope that 
they may better state what is done in the Parisian schools 
than a whole volume of description. Appended to these 
models will be found some samples of joiner's work. All 
the models are rough as yet, and prove unmistakably that 
this is boys' work, but it also proves the methodical skill of 
the teachers. (See Figs. 313-329, and also Figs. 330-339.) 

II. Partitioned off from the joiners' and turners' hall is 
the forge, and here the work of locksmiths and toolsmiths 
is done. Strong steel vises and anvils are found here, though 
somewhat smaller than adults would want them. They are 
well placed, and the boys here work with much zeal, and 
the teacher acts with great circumspection to avoid accidents 
from fire or dangerous use of metals. I am very sorry I am 
unable to offer in sketch illustrations what is done in this 
department. Suffice it to say that the instruction is fully 




Figs. 313-329.— Pupils' Work. Learning to use Saw and Chisel. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 325 

as comprehensive as that in the joiners' department. The 
copies of models I offer in Figs. 340-348 are fair samples. 



Figs. 330-339.— Pupils' Work in Joining. 



326 



PARIS. 



III. Turners' TForAr.— Side by side with the work in car- 
pentering* and joining goes a course in turning. Not every 
boy of the class takes up both occupations, but most of them 
confine themselves to one only. I am unable to sketch any 
of the great number of drawings exhibited and used in mak- 




FiGS. 340-348.— Pupils' Work in Brass and Iron. 



ing the models — partly because I failed to sketch rapidly 
enough, and partly because circular curves are rather be- 
yond my capacity. I must therefore rely upon the litho- 
types referred to above and offered on the next page. I 
select only a few sets, because the models show, as a matter 
of self-evidence, a great deal of similarity. The sets I offer 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 327 

are Nos. 1 to 6, and 12 to 17. They show some varieties of 
edged and circular curves. 




Figs. 349-359.— Pupils' Work in Turning. 



328 PARIS. 

The boys who do this kind of work are from twelve to 
fourteen years old. They have a lesson of an hour three 
times a week. The hall is cleaned carefully of shavings 
and dust after each lesson, and aJl the tools are placed away, 
or hung up in rows, so that the next class will find every- 
thing " ship-shape." 

Though the boys have only three lessons a week in man- 
ual occupations, they get a great deal of instruction in four 
years. Some pupils never go beyond the most elementary 
beginnings, while others learn rapidly and actually turn out 
to be skilled joiners, turners, locksmiths, or toolsmiths, as 
the case may be, when leaving school. 

The secret of this success is partly found in the natural 
aptitude of some children in that particular direction, partly 
in the fact that no piece of work is furnished, no task is set 
unless a drawing is made of it, such as I furnish in the pre- 
ceding and following sketches. Any one who can conceive 
a form in such a manner that he can sketch it on the flat 
surface can produce that form also in natura, provided he 
has the necessary skill in the use of the tools. And it is this 
happy combination of drawing and executing the drawing 
which causes the success of the French manual occupation 
schools. Not one of these halls in Paris and elsewhere 
in France is without ample blackboard space; and it is 
frequently used, as I had occasion to observe. 

Though it is the evident desire of the teachers in these 
halls to keep the classes together and give class-instruction, 
the latter is found impossible, and soon after a new class is 
admitted the pupils proceed at different paces and drift apart. 
So the teacher has to individualize and confine the attention 
of a class to a few things which they must do together. 

IV. Wood-Carving and Inlaid Work. — And now I will 
proceed to give some sketches of the work done in ornament- 
ing. The work consists of wood-carving, scroll-sawing, of 
'' inlaying " and veneering. The sketches 360 to 367 are exe- 
cuted in wood after drawings designed by the class ; in a few 
instances plaster is used. I copied these few drawings partly 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 



329 



from the class-work, partly from a hand-book I found in use, 
partly from models on exhibition in the " Musee Pedago- 
gique." Though these schools may not be our ideal manual 




Fig. 363. 



Fig. 364. 



occupation schools, it is evident from these drawings that 
excellent work is performed in them. 

Figs. 363, 364, and 365 will be found on subsequent pages 
among the models in lithotype. These models begin with 



330 



PARIS. 



easy work and end with remarkably artistic work, all done 
by boys below fourteen years of age. Scroll-sawing is not 
practiced as much as in German schools. It is chiefly used 
where inlaid work is made. 




Fig. 365. 




Figs. 366, 367. 



The lithotype copies of models are less pretentious than 
some work I saw in the pedagogical museum, but, as in pre- 
ceding collections of models, they show the methodical treat- 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 331 



ment better than a printed course could do it. It would need 
the space of a volume alone for a description of all the nu- 
merous designs executed in wood and plaster. My selections, 
however, I think, are ample. 



u 




Figs. 368, 369.— Pupils' Work in Inlaying. 

He who has not had occasion to observe a person engaged 
in wood-carving will not likely see much in these models or 
patterns. All who have some knowledge of it will notice 
that in the samples offered distinct stages of the course are 
noticeable, from the simplest outlining and stamping to deep 
carving. The same designs are used in inlaid work. 



332 



PARIS. 




Figs. 370-381.— Pupils' Work in Wood-Carving. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 333 

Figs. 366 and 867 represent deeper carving and the begin- 
ning of inlaying. I saw such charming work, among the 
specimens on exhibition in the museum referred to above, 
that I lingered in contemplation of these treasures. I was 
assured, by the director of the institution, that every piece 
of work of the entire collection had been furnished by pupils 
of French schools, not merely from schools in Paris. From 
the paper-folding done in the Kindergarten (here called 
maternal schools) to the close of the course of elementary 
schools at the age of fourteen, and even from the work of 
higher schools, samples are here collected. Some of these 
things might do honor to skilled artisans. I offer a few 
designs executed by higher-grade pupils in Figs. 368 and 369. 

V. In modeling in clay the manual training schools in 
Paris go too far, it seems to me. Though I saw most ex- 
cellent articles ready for exhibition, and many boys at work 
on similar figures, I can not suppress a lurking doubt as to 
the genuineness of some pieces found in the museum. I 
miss also the strict methodical treatment found in all the 
other departments of manual occupation. I select a few 
samples which show so bold a conception of form despite 
the traces of unskilled labor, that I suspect the teacher lent 
a helping hand. Still, it is claimed that the boys use no 
measures, except the eye, and that frequently they depart 
from given models and produce new forms. 

My own want of skill in modeling, I will frankly admit, 
may lead me to suspect that the boys " plowed with Samson's 
heifers," and experts tell me there is less difficulty in form- 
ing and constructing in clay than there is in wood-carving 
While I grant that the boys in Paris do better work in carv- 
ing and joiner work than those in Germany, vastly better, I 
think the work in modeling, as I found it in Vienna and 
Leipsic is better suited to the capacity of young pupils, it 
being more in line with elementary instruction. In German 
manual schools modeling of geometrical bodies is the first 
step, then follow simple leaf-forms which are convention- 
alized in ornaments afterward. 



334 



PARIS. 




Figs. 382-389.— Pupils' Work. Modeling in Clay. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 335 




Figs. 390-395.— Modeling in Clay. 



23 



336 



PARIS. 




Figs. 39&-399.— Modeling in Clay. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 337 

The fact that in Paris artisans and artists, that is, special- 
ists who are not professional teachers, conduct the manual 
occupations, is noticeable in every department, but in none 
more than in modeling ; while in Germany none but bona 
fide teachers who have passed through a regular course of 
training in a manual training normal school are seen in the 
industrial halls or workshops. This explains why in France 
much is done for effect, while in Germany the idea of har- 
monious education is carried out strictly. 




WASH-STAND 
VERTICAL CUT 




DOOR JOINT 
(a) FACE. 

{b) VERTICAL CUT. 
(C) BASE, HORIZON- 
TAL CUT. 



Figs. 400, 401. 



"Illllll IIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!l!r,HillllHTmg 



Manual Training in Evening Schools. — In some French 
and Swiss schools the course of industrial education is ex- 
tended beyond the common-school age. Evening schools 
are arranged. In these post-graduate courses the joiner's 
and carpenter's trades are taught and very creditable work 
is done. Some sl^etches may show the extent of the course. 
Fig. 400 shows a door-joint and the setting in of panels. 
Fig. 401 is a more complicated affair, which is made by sev- 
eral boys, each being charged with one or two items, each 



338 



PARIS. 



of which must be made according to measure. The entire 
work is done by following the drawing made previously. 

VI. Pupils' Work in Building. — In the post-graduate 
course building is a branch of study. The material used 
here is to some extent cut to size so as to fit given models. 
These models are put together in the way in which our toy 



VIEW OF RAFTER TIE 




Figs. 402, 403. 

building-blocks in the nursery are used, only with this dif- 
ference, that every structure must comply strictly with a 
drawing, perspective and isometric. 

First, a structure is made with the miniature blocks (imi- 
tations of pressed clay), say, a self-supporting arch, then it is 
drawn. Another lesson is to draw the object according to 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF BOYS IN PARIS. 



339 



certain given measures, and then to build it with the mate- 
rial prescribed accurately according to the drawing. 

In order to give an idea of what difficult structures are 
expected from the working lads, I will mention that among 
the beautiful models of imitation stone (pressed clay) I saw 
in a school on the Boulevard de Belleville, in Paris, was the 
difficult "CEil de Boeuf arch"; an arch with plain center, 
a " vouter d'arte " (a vault) ; an " arc descente biaise " (an in- 
clined arch) ; an " arc platebande " (with border). I counted 
about sixty different structures, all of which were erected 



m — i — n — 
— ^ 



FRONT VIEW 



/ 



CROSS BEAM 
SADDLE 



/ \ GROUND PLAN I \ 



Fig. 404. 



without mortar. They were simple self-supporting struct- 
ures. The drawings accompanying these models were stu- 
pendously intricate. The sketches I submit here (Figs. 402- 
410) are very simple, taken from a hand-book of a Swiss 
teacher. They will in a measure indicate how thorough the 
instruction is. Though being but an infinitesimal part of 
the work, they may show better what kind of problems are 
solved than a number of pages of text. 

In discussing this subject I feel that I have not done jus- 
tice to the manual -training department as it deserves; but 
my inability to give more than mere suggestions must ex- 
cuse me. 

Figs. 405-410 show the details of a window such as is 



340 



PARIS. 



(a) FACE OF CORNER 




(f) FACE OF CORNER 



Figs. 405-410. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS IN PARIS. 341 

used on the Continent in Europe. There are a great number 
of highly interesting and knotty problems connected with 
this task, all of which are solved. 

2. Industrial Education op Girls in Paris. 

This topic, though of equal interest with that discussed in 
the preceding chapter, can be treated but briefly. A woman 
may be able to discuss it with more skill than I. All I can 
do is to furnish some facts. Of that I believe myself fully 
competent. Of necessity the facts must be but few. 

The girls' schools are " manned " with women teachers ex- 
clusively. No man, not even a special teacher, is allowed to 
teach girls in Paris. The only men who enter a girls' school 
here are the inspector, the m.aire, and doctor of the arron- 
dissement (ward of the city). The principals of these schools 
are splendid women, highly refined in manner and address, 
and well trained in disciplining. Since they are not en- 
gaged in teaching they have not that proverbial look of 
care on their countenances seen among women teachers 
here as well as at home. 

No knitting and crocheting is taught in these schools, for 
it is argued that that kind of work can be had ready made 
by machines ; but sewing is taught to perfection. All kinds 
of sewing, plain and complicated (for it is argued that that is 
a necessity in every household), and darning and patching, 
are raised to a fine art in these schools. The results are 
brilliant. The reader is referred to what is said of the in- 
dustrial education 
of girls in Cologne. ^^ 
He will find there 
much that holds 
good for Paris. 
Each pupil has a 
bag of strong canras like the sketch in the margin, which 
holds the sewing utensils, the patterns, and the work under 
hand. It is a very convenient bag. Home tasks are given 
in sewing, and the bag is to be carried home. 




Fig. 411. 



342 



PARIS. 




VERIFYING A MEASURE 

A E F B B' 



A'A E B 




C 8 G D D' 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS IN PARIS. 343 



B B' 



In one thing the girls' schools in Paris far surpassed any- 
thing I had seen before: I mean in cutting out and fitting 
garments, not only undergarments, as is done in Cologne 
and elsewhere, but dresses, cloaks, hoods, bonnets — that is, 
all the garments for children and adults. They are made 
m miniature form by fitting them to dolls first. Drawings 
are made, the patterns are then cut out of manila paper. 
After these are found correct (see Fig. 413, "Verifying a 
Measure ") the stuflp (commonly calico or merino) is cut ac- 
cording to the patterns, and the 
garment is basted. Then again it 
is fitted; at last finished. It is la- 
borious work ; but the great variety 
of garments, from a boy's vest to a 
woman's cloak, adds interest to the 
work. 

The upper grades have a text- 
book for this study (costing twenty 
cents), entitled " Coupe et Confec- 
tion de Vetenients de Femmes et 
d'Enfants.'"' I can in no better way 
illustrate the work going on than 
by copying some of the patterns I 
saw cut out. They must speak for 
themselves. The figures and letters 
attached agree with the ones given 
in a short description furnished by 
the children. 

Whether this course of instruc- 
tion is a wise one ; whether under- 
neath it is not the same vital error 
found in the boys' manual training, 
I must leave unanswered, or refer to the more competent 
judgment of my female readers. I merely state facts. In 
the higher classes, I understand, other occupations, the so- 
called genteel occupations, are added to the course, painting 
on china, etc. I saw specimens of that which were very 





V A 










3 






A i 
















/ V 










E 




1 


" \ 


2 




c 


JLC 


AK 


\ 
\ 

r 
\ 

\ 


\ 

\ 
\ 

\ 

\ 



Fig. 41: 



344 



PARIS. 



fine. This, however, seemed to me so foreign to the course 
of study in common schools that I felt no desire to further 
inquire into it. 

That there is a strong desire to prepare the girls in Paris 
for housewifery may be seen also from the fact that a reader 






Figs. 418, 419. 



is used in the upper classes of the common schools for girls 
entitled " Le Menage : Causeries cfAurore avec ses Nieces 
sur VEconomie Domestique " (" The Household : Aurora's 
Talks with her Nieces about Domestic Economy "). 



DINNERS FOR SCHOOL-CHILDREN IN PARIS. 345 

From the composition-books I inspected, I copied a few 
headings on account of their significance. They character- 
ize the Parisian female education : 

1. " The History of a Bird that had lost its Liberty." 

2. "Review the Events of the Year 1887 that concern 
you." 

3. " What Wishes have you formed for yourself and 
your Family at the Beginning of the New Year ? " 

4. " What will most enhance the Comfort and Welfare 
of a Family, and why ? " 

5. " Domesticity, the Noble Virtue of Woman." 

That drawing is not neglected in the girls' schools in 
Paris may be seen from the two specimens (Figs. 418, 419) of 
work done from plaster casts, by girls ten and eleven years 
old. I insert them, and think the artist has reproduced 
them accurately (see page 344). 

3. Dinners for School-Children In Paris. 

The problem how to obtain regular afternoon attend- 
ance, yet give the school-children the much-desired recrea- 
tion, avoid cold lunches, and not worry the mothers at noon, 
who are almost all hard-working women, this very com- 
plex problem is satisfactorily solved in Paris. About eighty- 
two per cent of the pupils stay in school during the noon- 
recess, and are fed from the school-kitchen. The large hall 
found in every communal school in Paris, and which I men- 
tioned elsewhere, is used as a dining-hall. Long tables and 
benches, that can be folded together and removed when mili- 
tary and gymnastic drill is to be had, are set up by the con- 
cierge (janitress) shortly before noon, and the children 
march down from their class-rooms in slow procession. 

On a counter at a window of the kitchen are placed some 
three hundred to four hundred tin plates and an equal num- 
ber of tin bowls. Each child, as it passes the window, gets a 
bowl of delicious soup and a plate with meat and some vege- 
tables. Then he marches to his seat. The whole process of 
dealing out does not last longer than a quarter of an hour. 



346 PARIS. 

Each child brings with him a chunk of bread and a small 
flask of wine. Do not get disgusted dear reader ! It is mne, 
red wine, very inoft'ensive, drinkable wine ; though you 
might drink a gallon of it, it would not cause intoxication. 
Still, I grant that water would be better. But such is France. 
Wine belongs as much to a dinner in Paris as water does 
with us, and I did not feel over-anxious to play the role of 
temperance apostle while in France for reasons too obvious 
to mention. 

The food thus furnished is of excellent quality, and it is 
furnished free to all indigent pupils. All who can pay do 
it. From the teachers I understood that few parents send 
their children without the necessary obolus. The price of a 
dinner (dejeuner) is ten centimes in some schools, fifteen 
centimes in others, or, in our money, two or three cents. 
Think of it! Good, nutritious soup, a plateful of well- 
cooked meat and vegetables (potatoes, beans, peas, lentils, as 
the case may be), and gravy — all for two or three cents. I 
could scarcely believe my ears when I heard " A meal for 
two (or three) sous,^'' yet it is a fact, and I saw the boys pay 
cheerfully. 

Children who live in the immediate neighborhood of the 
school-house go home to get their dinner, but the majority 
remain in the hall or yard, and are under the supervision of 
a teacher till the afternoon session begins. It can not be 
emphasized too much that cold lunches — particularly if they 
consist of pastry — are abominations, and we Americans 
might learn something from these Frenchmen in feeding 
multitudes, except in partaking of alcoholic drinks, for, 
alas ! we know that only too well. 

Now, of course, my female readers will want to know 
something of the bill of fare. I copied the one prescribed 
for February in a school on Rue de Recluse St. Martin, 
M. Z. Bertrand director. The bill is changed every month, 
so as to afford changes as the season dictates them. There is 
no school on Thursday ; that day is as firmly established 
a school holiday in Paris as Saturday is with us. 



GYMNASTIC AND MILITARY DRILL IN PARTS. 347 

Menu for February. 

First and Third Week of the Month. 

Monday : Soup with haricot-beans, mutton-stew, and 
beans. 

Tuesday : Soup with boiled beef, brown cabbage. 
Wednesday : Onion-soup, veal-roast, fried potatoes. 
Friday : Soup with boiled beef, macaroni. 
Saturday : Soup with sorrel and greens, mutton, lentils. 

Second and Fourth Week of the Month. 

Monday : Potato-soup, mutton -stew, peas. 
Tuesday : Soup with boiled beef, haricot-beans. 
Wednesday : Soup with rice and greens, veal-stew. 
Friday : Soup with boiled beef, fried potatoes. 
Saturday : Soup with lentils, mutton with peas. 
This is a two-cent institution ; the fare for three cents is 
more sumptuous. '"'' Bon appetit.^'' 

4. Gymnastic and Military Drill in Paris. 

In my former reports I have said nothing of the excellent 
gymnastic exercises in German schools, though I was strong- 
ly tempted to do so ; but it would have involved the neces- 
sity of sketching the human body, and that is beyond my 
capacity as an artist. Any presentation of gymnastic exer- 
cises in print without sketch or outline illustrations would 
be stale reading-matter, and therefore a senseless undertak- 
ing. Here in Paris the " study " of gymnastics has a few 
peculiar features not found anywhere else, and I will there- 
fore mention them : 

1. Fencing is taught, not with foils and swords, but with 
hazel-sticks of considerable length. It was a novel sight for 
me to see the boys go through a regular course of fencing 
exercises in which the strokes fell heavy and thick but were 
parried skillfully except once, when an unemployed hand 
stuck out too far, and that was the teacher's hand. 

2. Each boys' school has a rifle company, consisting of 



348 PARIS. 

the upper grade of pupils and called " bataillon scliolaire." 
They are furnished with Chassepot rifles (breech-loaders) 
somewhat reduced in size, very light, and blind. The boys 
can not shoot with them, but use them in their disciplinary 
drills. Knapsacks containing the necessary utensils for 
cleaning the gun and clothes when on a march complete 
the outfit. Every company has a drum and fife corps. I 
believe that, when the present generation of French boys is 
grown up to manhood, France will have a better army than 
at present, for what I saw of French soldiers much reminded 
me of oin* militiamen in peace. The French soldiers' march- 
ing was slouching and anything but inspiring. 

The discipline in the lower boys' school in Paris is rigid 
tc a fault in the class-room, corridors, and yard. I really 
believe what one teacher told me : '' We used to be very 
lenient to the pupils; but the wonderful discipline of the 
German soldiers and the fact that they have to begin that 
discipline in school at an early age, induced us to change 
our tactics. I think we are beginning to see an improve- 
ment in our pupils, and hope to see the young men of our 
country cope with the Germans in strength, order, and obe- 
dience in a generation or two from now. It is slow, up-hill 
work ; but the people of France are determined to proceed 
upward, not downward." The man was no braggart; but, 
having observed during many months the influence of a 
century of public-school and army discipline in Germany in 
both boys and men, I doubt sincerely that the Frenchmen 
will ever be able to " catch up " with the Germans in that 
respect. 

5. Equipment of School-rooms in Paris. 

The scholars' desks and seats here are much better than 
in Germany, much more convenient, but not near so well 
adapted as our American single desks and seats. Harely are 
more than flfty pupils seated in a room. On the nicely 
tinted and scrupulously clean walls (in a few schools I saw 
them covered with fresco ornaments) hang so many means 



EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOL-ROOMS IN PARIS. 349 

of objective instruction that an American teacher who still 
believes in the saving grace of the printed page would shake 
his head. I will enumerate : A handsome engraving of the 
" Bill of Rights " (a document as important in French history 
as is our " Declaration of Independence ") and a fine bust 
with the inscription " R. F." (Republique Fran^aise) are 
seen over the teacher's desk. Then there is a case with a 
glass door containing different scales with weights— liquid 
and long measures — according to the metric system. These 
are used frequently in arithmetic. Casts of plaster and 
papier-mache are suspended at various places on the walls, 
acting as ornaments and being used as models for drawing. 

Then there are seen in rows a number of charts for 
object-lessons, illustrating natural history, the trades and 
industries, history, and geography. One set of charts was a 
novelty to me. K description of one of them must suffice. 
In the upper part was printed, under the name " flax " and the 
proper botanical heading, a statement of where flax is raised 
and how it is used. Then a bundle of flax-stems with leaves 
and blossoms in a good state of preservation is fastened with 
strings to the chart. Under that the different stages through 
which the fibers have to go till they can be spun are shown. 
Then follow samples of coarse and fine linen thread. Final- 
ly, samples of linen are shown ; all this in natura, not in 
pictures. The educational value of such a chart is indis- 
putable. 

The same objective presentation is offered to illustrate 
the manufacture of cotton, wool, and silk stuffs. Then fol- 
lows the leather industry, and so on. Every essential indus- 
try is thus treated. On the chart headed " wheat," little bot- 
tles filled with grains, flour, bran, alcohol, etc., are fastened 
with wire. Different kinds of wool, wood, leather, etc., are 
attached to charts; all the more important minerals (ores 
and metals) likewise. Then follows a set of charts showing 
the leaves, blossoms, and fruit of plants in natura, not mere- 
ly in chromo-lithographic print. Each leaf is well varnished 
to protect it from moisture. 



350 PARIS. 

Each class-room in which primary geography is taught 
is provided with a heavy cast of a relief-map of Paris and 
vicinity. In the corner of the room of the two highest 
grades stands a neat cupboard of white wood filled with ap- 
paratus such as is used in the studies of physics and physi- 
ology. The lower shelves are filled with globes, telluriums, 
and stuffed animals and birds. It is a museum of no mean 
importance for successful teaching. The treasures of the 
museums were usually in very good order. Now and then 
I noticed a chaotic disorder, and I inferred that the teacher 
who suffered his apparatus to get into such disorder could 
not be very orderly and systematic in his discipline and 
teaching. Where I subjected the matter to a test I found 
my idea verified. Verily, human nature is the same at home 
and abroad. 

In a few school-rooms I found one wall entirely reserved 
for meritorious pupils' work. There I found, tacked to strips 
of wood, hundreds of excellent geographical maps colored 
and drawn well. Being requested to pick out a few from 
this great number to take with me, I selected some that 
seemed to me to represent the average. My hesitation to 
accept the gift was cut short by the pupils, who said without 
reserve that I was welcome to them, and the teacher re- 
marked that they had an embarras de richesse and would 
not miss any. I shall treasure these maps as a pleasant 
memento of my visit. 

In most primary classes I admired a set of chromo-litho- 
graphed geographical charts representing " primary ideas " 
of geography, such as valley, canal, glacier, cape, isthmus, 
etc. These appeared to me of special value in schools in 
Paris, where the pupils grow up between high houses and 
rarely see anything else than streets. As to geographical 
maps I shall mention them under the head of geography, 
and therefore beg to refer the reader to the next chapters. 

The school-rooms in Paris have more blackboard space 
than similar schools in Germany. One board is provided 
with lines for music ; one is used for drawing ; it has an ap- 



EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOL-ROOMS IN PARIS. 351 

paratus for holding plaster casts ; another is used for daily 
work, such as arithmetic and writing. Every communal 
school of Paris has a store-room in which the more valuable 
casts, busts, and physiological apparatus are kept. Each ob- 
ject is labeled and numbered. I counted as many as one 
hundred and eighty objects, some of very large size, in one 
school. What a wealth and lavish expenditure, and what a 
wise policy ! 

These schools are by far better ventilated than the schools 
in Germany. Except one which had been changed from a 
mirror-factory to a school-house, all the schools I visited in 
Paris were comparatively well ventilated (I beg to refer to 
the fact that I saw them between February 2d and 25th) and 
had much light falling over the left shoulder of the pupils. 

It is evident that the city and state school authorities in 
France do not grudge the schools what can serve to in- 
crease their efficiency, as far as equipment with means for 
objective instruction goes. To a complete equipment belongs 
also a set of merit medals on silk ribbons. These medals are 
of silver, neatly engraved, having the form of the star of the 
French Legion of Honor. The '' star pupils " wear the medal 
during school hours, and when school closes they return 
them to the teacher's desk, where they are locked up. Pu- 
pils of higher grades are permitted to wear them on the 
streets and at home, and I venture to assert that many a stu- 
dent wears his medal with more just pride than some own- 
ers of the star of the Legion of Honor. The medals change 
owners once a month. The one who gains the greatest 
number of simple merits is entitled to wear the silver badge. 
That this is a bad and very objectionable custom it is scarce- 
ly necessary to state ; but the custom is so interwoven with 
French ideas that it can not easily be changed. It is very 
difficult for some people, even in our country, to see that 
competition may be a natural tendency, but that it is not a 
moral law, and that it should not be fostered in school. 

In perfect accordance with the French character was the 
incident I witnessed in a school on the Rue des Recluses St. 
24 



352 PARIS. 

Martin. The teacher had drawn on the board with colored 
crayon an ancient feudal castle, with battlements and wav- 
ing banner, standing on the top of a mountain. Below it at 
the foot of the mountain on the bank of a river was pictured 
a rude hut where a poor fisherman lived. Under the picture 
stood an inscription which read, "Before 1789." I inquired 
for the object, and heard that the teacher taught history, and 
that this illustrated the cause of the great French Revolu- 
tion, the centennial of which would be celebrated in 1889. 

Nearly all the school-rooms I saw in Paris are provided 
with gas-fixtures, the weather being rather gloomy in win- 
ter, and dark early in the afternoon. The immensely high 
houses increase the darkness. Five, six, and seven seem to 
be the usual number of stories the houses in Paris have. 
Houses with two or three stories are rare. 

6. Drawing in the Communal Schools in Paris. 

On former occasions much was said of drawing as it is 
taught in the schools of Germany. Had I seen Paris sooner, 
I might, perhaps, have said less in praise of what is done in 
drawing in Germany, for what I saw here far outshines any 
thing I saw across the Rhine. I must urgently request my 
readers not to express their incredulity (they will be sorely 
tempted, though), for I brought the proofs with me, stamped 
and signed by the rectors of the schools where I obtained 
them. I offer them for inspection to teachers who, being 
accustomed to seeing inferior results, may be disposed to 
doubt the statements in this chapter. 

First and foremost of all it may be said : There is actually 
no copying done from the flat-surfaced copy in the schools 
of Paris. In the third year of school where instruction in 
drawing begins, solids are drawn at once. I should have 
to repeat my former statements, if I intended to sketch the 
course in the lower grades. Even before the third year, a 
kind of drawing solids is found ; a simple object is outlined 
in a network of lines as the following sketch shows. The 
work is extremely interesting to the little ones. In regard 



DRAWING IN THE COMMUNAL SCHOOLS IN PARIS. 353 

to the course the reader is kindly referred to previous chap- 
ters, in which the method employed is suggested. 





1 


\ 


7 ■ 


A I ^ 






t X t 


" S 1 


A^V 


1 


T^ir 


- ii" "J^^ 




vM 


/TV Nil ^ 


-^^ V- 


_A L 




1 ' 


/■s r> 1 ' 


1 1 O f^ 


1 l^x\x^. 


J — — J () O J 

^ 1 1 1 ^ 



Fig. 420. 

When a grade similar to our C Grammar (twelfth year 
of age) is reached, the drawing is taught in a hall specially 
arranged for the purx^ose, having north light. Here the 
drawing tables and seats are arranged amphitheatrically, so 
that the plaster cast, or 
other object to be drawn, 
can be seen by all pu- 
pils equally well. In 
order to facilitate the 
seeing of the object, a 
blackboard is placed be- 
hind it, and drapery is 

used for increasing the ^^^ ^^^ 

shadow. The tables and 
seats are adjustable, as the sketch in the margin shows. 




354 



PARIS. 



The hall looks more like an artist's studio than a school- 
room. 

If I were asked, What do these pupils draw ? I should feel 
embarrassed for an answer to the question. If I said, geomet- 
rical bodies, plaster casts of relief ornaments, plaster busts, 
casts of human limbs, torsos of statues, furniture — in fine, 
anything that is set before them — the answer would be too 
indefinite, yet more definite than I ought to give it. For 
my answer would not convey an idea of the masterly me- 




FiGS. 422-427. 



thodical treatment and infinite systematic care bestowed 
upon the course of instruction. I came away from several 
schools loaded with drawings which teachers and pupils 
presented to me, and these, I trust, will bear me out. The 
aim of this instruction is what the true aim of drawing in 
the schools ought to be, and which can be reached by draw- 



SKETCHING. 355 

ing from the solids alone, not by imitating flat-surfaced 
copies. It is : to make the pupils observe objects correctly, 
present them in outlines first in tolerably exact perspective 
view, then shade them artistically. The specimens seen un- 
der the hand (not merely those on exhibition) were more 
perfect than one, used to seeing the pupils copy, could have 
expected. I certainly had not expected to see what I did see. 
Side by side with the course of free-hand drawing from 
solids goes a most rigid course of geometrical drawing which 
enables the pupils to use the ruler and compasses, etc., and 
gives them most accurate knowledge of isometric and in- 
dustrial drawing. This course, as well as that of free-hand- 
drawing, assists the industrial instruction in the shop spoken 
of elsewhere. The preceding sketches (Figs. 422-427) are 
only very incomplete indications of the work, but as sug- 
gestions they may prove of value to my American col- 
leagues who are endeavoring at present to find " the true 
inwardness " of manual training. 

7. Sketching. 

The skill of French boys in sketching leaves everything 
behind that I ever saw in other countries. At my request 
the principals of different schools made me a present of some 
copy-books used daily ^ in order to prove my assertion of the 
superior teaching in the schools of Paris. The request was 
cheerfully granted after the pupils had expressed their will- 
ingness to part with the books. I have these books now, 
and hold them ready for inspection. In them can be seen 
geographical maps drawn hastily, but very accurately, 
sketches of animals, plants, physical apparatus, etc., serving 
as illustrations to the text. Each lesson or exercise is dated, 
and a comparison of these dates enables one to prove how 
much more work these pupils are expected to perform daily 
than our American pupils. 

The sketches I insert below are cut out of these books, 
nnd I am happy to say that the artist has reproduced them 
with all their errors and short-comings, so that a true repre- 



856 



PARIS. 




Fias. 428-434. 



HOW GEOGRAPHY IS TAUGHT IN PARIS. 357 

sentation of the work can be offered. They are by no 
means exceptionally fine specimens. The books contain 
many more and better ones than these, which are selected 
for insertion on account of their convenient size. I trust 
they will speak for themselves. See Figs. 428-434. 

It would be manifestly unjust to speak of the drawings 
on exhibition in the " Musee Pedagogique," for they are se- 
lected from thousands and tens of thousands. They represent 
the best work performed. I do not mean to fall into the mis- 
take of x^resenting what I recognize as exceptions, but the 
average of work done. As such I wish to have the work 
regarded. If it were not attended with too great an outlay, 
I should have those fine drawings of marble and plaster 
busts which I carried away from these schools photographed 
and inserted in my report; but it is impossible. If there 
should still be any of my colleagues who persist in doubting 
the results of drawing from objects to be superior to copying 
from the flat surface, I can only say, Go to Paris, and con- 
vince yourselves. 

One word more : Slates are not used after the first half- 
year in the schools of Paris. At the close of the first year, 
or at most at the beginning of the second year of the course, 
the daily work in arithmetic and writing is done with lead- 
pencil or pen and ink. This gives the young pupils a dex- 
terity in the use of pen, paper, and ink which can not be 
acquired where work on paper is the exception, and slate- 
work the rule, as it is with us. 

8. How Geography is taught in Paris. 

Time was when the average Frenchman believed Ger- 
many to be situated somewhere near the north pole, that her 
inhabitants were barbarians, and that wolves, bears, and 
foxes swarmed in the impenetrable forests of the wild coun- 
try. Well, the war of 1870 and 1871 awakened them rudely, 
and the French Government has since then made heroic 
efforts to raise the average degree of intellectual culture of 
the people. A fortnight of careful inspection in the schools 



358 PARIS. 

of Paris has convinced me of the thoroughness of French 
common-school education and of the wonderful start up- 
ward which the people have taken since 1871. Side by side 
with the communal schools there is a system of parochial 
schools kept by Catholic brethren and sisters which is 
doomed to extinction, since a governmental decree has fixed 
the date of closing these schools for good on the 1st of Janu- 
ary, 1889. I did not see any of these parochial schools ; all 
my observations were made in communal schools. It is 
here where I saw very good teaching in geography. 

In the lower primary grades geography consists of object- 
lessons on home, schools, and their environs. These close 
during the third year and geography proper begins. They 
have here a very useful map resembling my silhouette prac- 
tice maps. It is called a mute map. It consists of a black 
slated canvas, on which are printed with oil-paint the out- 
lines of France, the main rivers, the boundaries of every 
department, with no name or lettering whatever. These 
maps are very costly, and are treated with much care. They 
are used, like my silhouette practice maps, as geographical 
blackboards for inserting geographical data as they are 
learned. The work thus added can be erased, and the maps 
are ready for another lesson. Such a mute map may be 
found in every school-room from the third to the eighth 
school year. A set of regular wall-maps as we have them 
is used also. 

There are other means for illustrating geography such as 
our American schools have not. On the wall of every 
school-room (from the third grade upward) is found a large 
relief -map of Paris and vicinity suspended in a heavy frame. 
This map is made of plaster and artistically colored. It af- 
fords an opportunity for illustrating all the essential topo- 
graphical ideas, since the vicinity of Paris, even the city it- 
self, is diversified by elevations and depressions, shows an 
island (in the Seine), rivers, canals, harbors, woods, railroads, 
etc. The map is a neat piece of work, and it must have cost 
the school authorities much money to furnish each class- 



HOW GEOGRAPHY IS TAUGHT IN PARIS. 



359 




360 PARIS. 

room with a copy. On this map may be seen the new girdle 
of forts drawn around the city. It really looks as though as 
many soldiers were needed to invest and blockade the city 
as there are people living inside. This double belt of forti- 
fications looks formidable. 

The geographical chromo - lithographs used have been 
mentioned in a previous chapter. 

From all these means of instruction at the disposal of the 
teacher it may be inferred that the instruction does not rely 
upon rote learning and memory cram. I had occasion to 
listen to an oral examination in geography conducted by a 
teacher. Thus he proceeded : 

" Louis, describe a journey from Suez to Yokohama " ; 
and Louis would go ahead and start " by proxy " in a steamer 
from Suez, travel through the Red Sea, the Strait of Bab- 
el-Mandeb (the Gate of Tears of the Arabians), etc., mention- 
ing seas, bays, capes, harbors, countries, rivers, islands, etc. 
Thus he would recite, and, while he did so, he drew on the 
board a hasty but pretty accurate sketch of the route. An- 
other pupil was called to travel by railroad from Burgos, in 
Spain, to St. Petersburg, in Russia; another from Paris to 
Moscow, etc. I copy a little map from the book of a pupil 
to show that the pupils here learn by seeing and doing. The 
cut (Fig. 435) is an accurate copy of the work except the 
inscription, which I translate. 

The second map, showing the tour by water from Calais 
to Marseilles, is an illustration both of the way in which 
examinations are conducted and of the fact that commercial 
geography comes in for no little share of attention. This 
second sketch map (a copy of a pupil's work) exhibits the 
canal system of France. This kind of examination work 
seemed to me better adapted to show what the pupils know 
than answering ten such questions, narrow as a razor, as, 
for instance. What seaport in Alabama ? What strait be- 
tween Alaska and Siberia ? 

I am sorry to report that in all this good teaching there 
was a bit of genuine humbug. When the teachers heard 




Fig. 436. 



362 



PARIS. 



that I hailed from America, they wedged in some American 
geography and history. Their pronunciation of American 
cities was barbarous — I " reckon " as barbarous as a genuine 
Yankee's pronunciation of French names would be. How- 
ever, I was fire-proof against that. It did not generate a 
great deal of pleasure when the fourth or fifth question in 
American history invariably concerned Lafayette and the 
excellent services he had rendered the United States in their 
infancy. When you are reminded of a kind deed done to 
you, the remembrance of it ceases to be pleasant. My read- 
ers may imagine my surprise when in one school the teacher, 
after duly extolling Lafayette, said : " Though the United 
States may owe thanks to France, we must not forget that 
we owe thanks to America also. The citizens of the United 
States first among the civilized nations demonstrated that in 
modern times the democratic form of government is as pos- 
sible as in ancient times. They gave the people of France a 
great impulse to try it too." 

Due consideration is paid in the schools of Paris to com- 
mercial geography. The railroad system of France and Eu- 
rope is a subject of 
much study, as could 
be seen from sketch- 
maps on the blackboard 
and from work done by 
the pupils in their jour- 
nals. The little map in 
the margin is an exact 
copy of a home task per- 
formed by a girl twelve 
years of age. It shows 
the important railroads 
of France. The pupils 
draw different maps of 
each country — topographical, climatic, railroad, canal, politi- 
cal maps — also maps showing where the grape-vine or olive 
is cultivated, etc. They do this in their blank-books for daily 




Fig. 437. 



FRENCH TEXT-BOOKS. 363 

work and not on special drawing-paper. The maps, a copy 
of which is inserted in this chapter, are reproduced in the 
same size in which they were furnished by the pupils. 

In one of the journals (pupils' blank-books filled with 
daily work) I brought with me I noticed a remarkable task. 
It is this: A statistical table of the most noted countries of 
the world, headed "Tableau Comparatif." This table con- 
tains the comparative figures of their area, population, den- 
sity of population, armies and navies, their productions, 
value of exports and imports, tonnage of merchant marine, 
and sundry other items. I inquired whether this had been 
learned by heart. ''No," was the reply; "this table is to 
cause an impression, nothing else. We dictate it and com- 
pare the figures, to make our pupils see where France stands. 
The figures themselves have no abiding value, being subject 
to frequent changes ; but we can not know ourselves unless 
we compare ourselves with others." A golden truth — a 
truth which will do a great deal toward redeeming France. 

9. French Text-Books. 

The text-books I picked up and examined in French 
schools all have the same essential fault found in American 
text-books — they contain too much. The arithmetics are 
very bulky and objectionable on account of the multiplicity 
of "cases" offered in the different chapters. The geogra- 
phies are burdened with text, as ludicrously incongruent 
with the children's degree of comprehension as ours are ; 
but these French books contain admirable maps, much bet- 
ter than many of ours. These maps, however, are also to be 
objected to, because they are too minute, and offer a multi- 
plicity of detail which must bewilder the pupils. The read- 
ers have much stale conversational matter, and do not come 
up in usefulness to the readers used in German schools. 
Except the primers, which are more carefully prepared, the 
French readers are wretched, and the tea<3hers help them- 
selves by introducing other suitable reading-matter wherever 
they find it. 



364 PARIS. 

I noticed a few books of great usefulness, called readers, 
to wit, a domestic economy for girls, a science reader for 
boys, and a number of special readers, such as geographical, 
botanical, zoological, and historical readers, which seem to 
me to meet a long-felt want. They are not used as text- 
books, but as supplementary sources of information, since 
no special text-books for the sciences, such as physiology 
and natural history, are used in the ecoles primaire (ele- 
mentary communal schools). 

Perhaps the best text-book I found in use was the one 
used in the study of history. It was well illustrated, and 
presented history in biographies and topical essays. If we 
consider that France has a history of more than a thousand 
years, it will readily be seen that the most scrupulous econ- 
omy is needed to present that which is of essential impor- 
tance. Paul Bert's book is also applied in natural science 
and history, but its use is not obligatory. 

All text-books and stationery are furnished free of cost 
to the pupils. The city pays for the " means of instruction," 
and the consequence is, that competition is killed. The 
books are badly printed, the paper is flimsy, and the binding 
shabby. The blank-books furnished are miserable, their 
paper is poorly calendered, and the flimsy cover easily torn. 
American school stationery is by far too costly, French 
school stationery by far too wretched. The two countries 
represent the two extremes, while Germany seems to have 
struck a happy medium. 

10. How Reading and Spelling are taught in Paris. 

In discussing this topic, interesting to American primary 
teachers, I regret that it is difficult to fix sounds by signs. 
This difficulty may give rise to misunderstandings, but that 
can not be avoided. I hope to be able to offer a few sugges- 
tions to young teachers who are using the x^honic method. 
Those who insist upon spelling, and do not comprehend that 
letters and sounds ai'e not identical, may omit this chapter; 
I have nothing new to offer them : 




HOW READING AND SPELLING ARE TAUGHT. 3^5 

QUATRIEME LEQON I. Beadmg.-l. 

The simple vowels 
a, e, 1, o, It, 2/, are 
taught alone in the 
schools of Paris, sim- 
ply by memory. Such 
aids as "i is a little 
boy throwing up his 
cap," etc., are used, but 
not the w^ord-method. 
The vowels are show^n 
in script and print, 
and pronounced. 

2. Simple conso- 
nants are taught, as 
the accompanying 
two lessons show. It 
is plain that no word 
is used, but simple 
combinations of one 
vowel and one conso- 
nant. This may seem 
mechanical, and I do 
not hesitate to pro- 
nounce it so, but there 
is consistency in the 
method. 

Frequent reviews 
(the little primer has 
one on every third 
page) prevent forget- 
ting sounds previous- 
ly learned. It will 
be noticed, in the 
above and following 
illustrations, that each 
consonant appears 



Plumes 

m 7;^ 



mi, mu, mu ui 



SIXIEME LEQON 




VoituFe 

ri, ru,ro, muri, 



-U, ^ ^ 77UI Ky, 

or, ur, ir, mu ni 

Figs. 438, 439. 



366 



PARIS. 



with the silent e attached to it. This refers to a peculiarity 
in the French language which can not be explained in print. 
The pictures used are very simple, and serve to bring out 
the particular sound to be learned, and no others. 





Boxe 



Pipes 



Figs. 440-443. 



The first reader from which these illustrations are taijen 
contains no word with greater difficulty than simple com- 
binations of one vowel and one consonant, as is seen from 
these words : Fa ri ne, fi de li te, re ga U a, qua H te, 
a ma zo we, ma xi me, ex po se, ca ma ra de. (As a sign 
of the deep-felt desire among Frenchmen to regain Alsace 



HOW READING AND SPELLING ARE TAUGHT. 367 

and Lorraine from Germany may be regarded the fact that 
in this first primer a small map of those provinces is printed 
to illustrate the word "Al sa ce. "' The thing looks childish 
and strangely incongruous, but it is bitter earnest with the 
Frenchmen of to-day.) 

From the most difficult and last review lesson of this first 
book I quote : II pa-ti-ne-ra sur le ca-nal ; u-ne mo-de de 
ri-di-cule ; le total de la fac-tu-re. This little book has 
forty pages, and the pupils complete it in about six weeks ; it 
never takes more than three months. 







Ay 



bre 




vi 



g^e 



Figs. 444, 445. 



3. The second primer (the reader will pardon the expres- 
sion, but it is used advisedly ; for the first book, commonly 
called primer with us, is here divided into two ; the one con- 
taining the simple sounds and their combinations, the second 
the more complex combinations) is finished also in less than 
three months, so that at the close of six months at most the 
mechanical difficulties of reading are overcome. This sec- 
ond book of sixty-four pages contains such vowels as oi^, ot, 
ew, oew, aw, eau^ ei, a% ie, and sudi consonants as ch, gn, 
25 



868 PARIS. 

ph, qu, gl, fr, st, sp. The method of this book is best illus- 
trated by copying a few lessons: 



gn-i, gn-o, gn-a, gn-e, 
gn-e, gn-u, gn-e ; 
gni, gno, gna, gne, gne, 
gnu, gne. 

vigne, signe, bagne, gague. 
ligne, digne, regne, rogne. 
ignore, chigne, signal. 
Here follow sentences for practiee 



br-i, br-o, br-u, br-a, br-e, 

br-e, bre. 

bri, bro, bru, bra, bre, 

bre, br^. 

sobre, bride, abri, brigade. 

bi'ode, abricot, brutal. 

brume, arbre, brave. 



At the foot of each lesson are given a number of notes to 
the teacher in "eye-powder print," which tell him how to 
proceed. I add one here for illustration's sake : 

Procedure. — Object-lesson on the grape-vine, its culture, fruit, and 
products. How many syllables in the word vigne ? Two, vi and ffne. 
Take the second only. Drop or cover the last letter, it is a silent one. 

Now sound gn. Connect it with a, e, i, o, w, thus, gn a, gn i, etc. 

Prevent the separation of the sounds till the pupils acquire skill in pro- 
nouncing the entire syllable without first analyzing it. Exercises on the 
blackboard : Reading of the word written in script ; reading of the copy 
in different forms and sizes ; reading of the copy from the slates. Use 
the board frequently. Do not let the chalk go out of your hands. Watch 
over it, that the lesson is not learned by heart. Change the order of the 
words on the board ; let them be read in the book backward, forward, up- 
ward, downward. See to it that the new sound ffu is articulated well in 
all the words of the lesson. 

To give an adequate idea of the great difficulties in read- 
ing surmounted in this second book, I will copy the last 
lesson found in it. It is characteristic, inasmuch as it proves 
that the French teachers employ the same abominable tone 
of sentimental preaching that characterizes the reading-mat- 
ter in some of our first readers : 

Chers enfants : Aimez vos parents et gardcz-vous de leur jamais de- 
sobeir. Aimez votre maitrc qui se donne beaucoup dc peine pour vous ; 
6coutez ses le9ons, suivez sesconscils. Aimez votre ecolc ; venez-y tons 



HOW READING AND SPELLING ARE TAUGHT. 369 

les jours avec plaisir et n'y arrivez jamais en retard. Aimez le travail, 
aimcz la lecture. Ayez de I'oidre ; ayez soin de vos vetements, de vos 
livres, de vos cahiers, ct de tous les objets a votre usage. Les livres 
couteiit chcr; il faut aussi beaucoup d'argent pour aeheter des vete- 
ments, des chaussures ct tout ce qu'il faut pour votre nourriture. Et 
I'argent coute beaucoup de peine, beaucoup de mal a votre pere pour le 
gagner. L'ordre mene k I'economie, Teconomie mene k I'aisance, sou- 
vent a la richesse. Soyez bons pour vos freres, pour vos soeurs et pour 
vos camarades ; ayez le mensonge en horrcur. Nc maltraitez jamais les 
animaux. Ayez pitie de pauvres, des malheureux, de tous ceux qui 
souffrent et qui sont dans la peine. Respcctez les vieillards. Aimez la 
France, notre Patrie, si grandc ct si belle. De retour de I'ecole, rendez 
k votre mere les petits services que nous pouvcz lui rcndre, pour alleger 
son travail ct ses peines. C'est ainsi que vous vous ferez aimer, et que 
vous grandirez en vous preparant k devenir des hommes de bien. 

It is to be regretted that our American printing-offices 
are not supplied with the types in which the above lesson is 
set in France, for the silent letters are marked in a most in- 
genious way. This kind of matter is read at the close of the 
sixth month ! Words like vieillards^ animaux, chaussures, 
travail I When I first " struck " a first-year's class busy with 
a reading-lesson, and was told how quickly the pupils 
learned to read, I thought this an exception, owing to the ex- 
cellence of the teacher — as any one would have done. But 
an examination in more than a dozen schools in different 
parts of the city convinced me that the case met first was no 
exception, but a fair average sample. 

Now I beg my American colleagues to consider — 1. That 
the French children do not spell words and syllables for the 
purpose of learning to read, but " sound " exclusively. 3. 
That they learn to read with great fluency almost anything 
in French print or legible script that is put into their hands, 
after the first year of school — and then let the reader draw 
the conclusion himself. 

The subsequent readers need not be described. Suffice it 
to say that they have the same faults which our American 
readers have, and none of their virtues and excellent quali- 



370 PARTS. 

ties. They are miserably printed and bound, and the cuts 
do not come up to our standard. 

II. Orthography. — How is orthog-raphy taught ? By 
avoiding spelling (splitting), and by copying much of the 
reading-matter. The French teachers have found the secret 
of orthographical teaching, to wit : The secret of vivid 
knowing is vivid seeing. Dictation-lessons are given daily. 
Not detached words but sentences are dictated, and the work 
is connected according to the text of the book from which 
the lesson is taken, be that the reader, geography, arithmetic, 
or history. I was presented with dozens of blank-books 
filled by the pupils with their daily work ; misspelled words 
are met in them but rarely. I preserve these books for in- 
spection. They bear the official stamp of the rectors of the 
schools ; and the date, in the upper right corner of every page, 
tells how much more practice in writing the boys and girls 
in Paris have than ours, whose work on the objectionable 
slate is all a fleeting show. The only class in which a slate 
is used in the schools of Paris is the first grade or primer 
class, and there only during the first half-year ; and even 
there it is not a slate, but a thin board without a frame. The 
lines are red, and one side is covered with a network of lines 
for drawing purposes. 

The penmanship found everywhere in the common 
schools of Paris is not " Spencerian," but remarkably excel- 
lent. The books I brought with me exhibit truly admirable 
penmanship. The headings are written in a bold, round 
hand, and the arrangement of arithmetical work very fine. 
Of course, there is indifferent work here as elsewhere, but 
the average is very high. 

11. The "Mus^e P^dagogique" in Paris. 

The last day of my stay in Paris I devoted to the Museum 
of Instruction. It took me some time to find it. It had 
shifted its abode several times, but is now in permanent 
quarters in the Eue Gay-Lussac, No. 41, a street situated be- 
tween the Pantheon and the Palais de Luxembourg. The 



THE "MUSEE PEDAGOGIQUE " IN PARIS. 371 

building used to be a convent ; it has many quaint corners, 
passages, courts, and cool, shady rooms and corridors. The 
institution is maintained by the state, and M. Martel, a gen- 
tleman well known in America, used to be its director, but, 
since he has been promoted, M. Beurrier is the director. 
When I presented my passe-partout, and a special card of 
introduction from our Bureau of Education in Washington, 
I was very hospitably received. I stated that I was laboring 
under a want of familiarity with French, though I could 
understand all that was said, and could speak it slowly ; and 
the director called one of his chief clerks, who spoke a com- 
mendable English, with that delightful French pronuncia- 
tion which is and always will be a subject of study to me. 

Well, we started out to see the educational treasures here 
collected from all parts of the globe. First of all, the library ; 
four large rooms full of books, scientific and practical, 
chiefly pedagogical books, graced the walls. Ah, what 
would I have given to be the owner of such treasures as 
were here collected ! The catalogue contained the titles of 
French, German, English, American, etc., books on educa- 
tion. Among the latter I noticed Horace Mann's " Impor- 
tance of Education in a Republic." The books were well 
arranged in cases according to subjects. One feature of the 
library was so characteristic that I must mention it. The 
chief countries had each one separate case in which were 
collected samples of their best school-books (I say "best," 
because I was so informed). In the case reserved for Ameri- 
can school-books I found many well-reputed books, as, for 
instance, Hepburn's Rhetoric, Colburn's Arithmetic, Apple- 
tons' Readers, and many others. It was with a feeling of 
some pride that I discovered one of my own children among 
the number, and another in which I had done a good share 
of the work. The American school-books were distinguished 
from those of other countries by their excellent binding, 
strong paper, and clear print. 

Then I was taken into a room which looked like a book- 
seller's packing-room. All the thousands of books here had 



372 PARIS. 

a uniform black cloth binding. Clerks were engaged here 
in packing books in little boxes of about a cubic foot in size. 
The boxes had been in the hands of the postal authorities 
many a time which was seen from the mail labels pasted on 
them. This, I was told, was the circulating library, where 
books were selected and sent to candidates for examination 
in the provinces. "All state examinations for professorships 
in normal schools, rectorships in common schools, superin- 
tendency and for positions in higher schools, have to be passed 
in this building, and, to regulate and facilitate the studies 
and preparation of the candidates, we lend them the books 
necessary. The books are returned by mail free of postage 
(this being a state institution) before the examinee presents 
himself." 

" But is not this a rather questionable procedure, my dear 
sir?" I asked. "Why should you think so?" "Well, I 
should judge that this would prevent teachers from buying 
books themselves ; does not this circulating library make 
them rely on state aid ?" "Ah! I see," said the director; 
" you are from America, where ' help yourself ' is the favorite 
motto. No, we can not expect that here. From time imme- 
morial the Frenchman expects aid from his Government, 
and it would seriously diminish the number of candidates 
for higher positions if we were to cease lending books to 
them. This circulating library is one of the strongest ties 
that hold the entire French teachers' profession together. 
Besides, it increases the usefulness of this museum, for all 
the candidates for promotion and examination, when they 
come here, spend days and weeks in studying our educa- 
tional treasures, which we will now proceed to show you." 

And now the gentleman took me from room to room. 
There was one room entirely filled with objects for illustra- 
tive instruction in natural history. All kinds of fruit imi- 
tated in wax were seen here. Charts and pictures for object- 
lessons were seen in such numbers that a choice would have 
been a difficult task. A room full of pupils' work followed: 
penmanship, drawing, arithmetic, composition, map-drawing", 



THE "MUSEE PEDAGOGIQUE" IN PARIS. 373 

etc., in great stacks, French, American, German, English, 
Japanese, etc. — a wealth which it must have taken much in- 
genuity and diligence to arrange systematically. 

Then there was a glorious art-hall, containing marble 
and plaster casts used for drawing ; a hall filled with relief 
and other maps as well as pictorial means of instruction in 
geography; telluriums, globes, etc., and hundreds of other 
things, old and new. There were samples of school furni- 
ture in miniature and in actual size, all imaginable black- 
boards, reading-charts, music-charts. I was bewildered, and, 
though I tried to hold on to my nil admirari, I soon forgot 
that and myself, lost in contemplation of the ingenuity of 
the schoolmaster. Here were collected all the school devices 
invented in all the civilized countries, and those of Japan 
and China besides. 

I had seen several museums of this kind in Cologne and 
Berlin and in southern Germany, but this one surpassed 
them all in every respect, owing to the centralized efforts of 
the Government. In an octagonal room, formerly a vesti- 
bule, were selected models in miniature of school-houses and 
plans of similar buildings. I was pleasantly surprised to find 
a model of a Massachusetts normal school, and of a school- 
house in Milwaukee, Wis. The gentleman who took me 
through this room expressed his disgust at such school ar- 
chitecture, saying: "They look like barracks. We want to 
see large portals, inner courts, and lofty, airy structures, not 
brick piles." 

Up-stairs I saw the hall in which the state examinations 
are conducted. In alcoves are found the collections of 
school-work prepared for world expositions — Paris, Antwerp, 
Philadelphia, and New Orleans ; drawing in portfolios, pen- 
manship and compositions in bound volumes, pupils' work 
from Japan, Belgium, America — an immense exhibition. 
One room is reserved for a chemical laboratory, another for 
a physical laboratory. These are used for lectures to the 
teachers who pass through a special course in the natural 
sciences. The apparatus here collected would rouse the envy 



374 PARIS. 

of any teacher who is oblig-ed to rely on home-made appara- 
tus. In the basement, in small alcoves, and broad, light cor- 
ridors are seen the results of manual training-schools. 

Here are on exhibit collections of tools forged by pupils, 
specimens of joiner's work, carpenter's work, wood-carv- 
ing, turner's work, inlaid work, scroll-sawing, and building. 
Here is also seen the entire course of industrial education 
for girls, beginning with paper- work done in the maternal 
schools (Kindergarten) and ending with complete garments. 
All departments are well arranged, systematically showing 
the courses of instruction and the methods employed. It is 
altogether a marvelous exhibition. 

How all else sinks into insignificance when these treas- 
ures, made by little hands and comparing favorably with 
master-works of adults, are viewed by one who is interested 
in them ! All the priceless treasures of the Louvre and the 
Ecole des Beaux- Arts seem to lose their luster when com- 
pared with these beginnings of art. It may sound heretical, 
but I assure my readers that I had more genuine pleasure in 
this museum than in looking at the miles of painted canvas 
in the Louvre. My admiration and interest grew with every 
new room opened to me, and I soon gave up trying to pre- 
pare a detailed account of what I saw. Weeks of study would 
barely suffice for it. 

A few items I picked up may close my report. How 
systematic the instruction in geography is in Paris, may be 



Fig. 446. 

seen from this fact: In a collection of work furnished by the 
pupils of the normal school in Paris I noticed an ideal relief- 
map on the margin of which were placed other reliefs such 
as seen in Fig. 446. The work led over from the idea face 
to surface of objects. The same school had also exhibited a 
number of fine specimens of china j)ainting and embroidery. 



A CALCULATING-MACHINE. 



375 



The many devices for illustrating number lessons were be- 
wildering, and the director told me frankly he was unable 
to explain some of them. One department is filled with 
children's toys. 
Among the black- 
boaj'ds there seen, 
I sketch an ad- 
justable one. It 
is easily made, 
works up and 
down, and can be 
turned. Fig. 447. 
Had I known 
what treasures 
this quaint-look- 
ing, ancient build- 
ing contained, I 
should have timed 
my stay in Paris 
so as to spend 

several days in the museum ; but my departure was neces- 
sary, to fulfill an engagement for addressing an assembly of 
teachers in a city on the Rhine. I am grateful, though, for 
having lived to see the " Musee Pedagogique " in Paris. If 
any of my colleagues should chance to go to Paris, I advise 
them urgently not to neglect to ask for a permit to see it. 
This, I believe, can be readily obtained of Monsieur Buisson, 
at the ministry of Public Instruction, in the Rue de Grenelle, 
No. 110, third floor, door to the left. 

12. A Calculating-Machine. 

The " arithmograph," an apparatus for absolutely correct 
arithmetical calculation, was on exhibition in the " Musee 
Pedagogique " in Paris, In an educational journal pub- 
lished in Paris, entitled " Le Progres de I'Enseignement Pri- 
maire," I met with a description of the apparatus. The arti- 
cle contains some interesting facts concerning the history of 




376 PARIS. 

inventions of arithmetical calculators. I translate a few 
passages for that reason. The author does not seem to know 
much of similar inventions in other countries : 

" Pascal was convinced of the possibility of reducing all 
arithmetical calculations to mere mechanical manipulations. 
He invented the first arithmetical machine in 1642. Em- 
ploying in his work all his extensive mathematical knowl- 
edge, he came to believe in the possibility of making an 
apparatus which would successfully replace thought and 
calculation. This conviction led him to expend large sums 
ia the manufacture of more than fifty different devices. 
Nevertheless, he did not live to see his speculations realized. 
Being the first who undertook this kind of work, he may be 
said to have shown the way and to have pointed out the aim 
to be reached. 

" The number of those who during nearly two hundred 
and fifty years endeavored to replace mental activity in solv- 
ing arithmetical problems by mechanical contrivances is 
quite large. Some few of the most noted are Leibnitz^ 
UAlembert, De Lepine, and Dr. Roth, all of whom con- 
tinued the labors of Pascal. Napier invented the calcula- 
tion by logarithms ; Thomas de Colmar the " arithmometre " ; 
Babbage, aided by the English Government, spent (or shall 
we say squandered ?) a half-million of francs and the best of 
his years upon a " universal calculator," which, like so many 
other similar inventions, remained incomplete. 

" It may be said that, despite the astonishing amount of 
labor that has been employed in its solution, the question, 
like that of a manageable air-ship, has not yet been solved, 
though it would be presumptuous to say it will never be 
solved. Still, the work begun by Pascal has not been with- 
out tangible results. There are several indispensable qiiali- 
ties which a calculating-machine must have to make it prac- 
ticable and applicable everywhere, and it has until recently 
been impossible to furnish a device which could boast of all 
these qualities. It must be inexpensive, must be easily trans- 
ported and manipulated. It must be so arranged that every 



A CALCULATING-MACHINE. 377 

average intelligence is able to make use of it in all con- 
ditions of life and for all simple calculations. Simplicity, 
indeed, is its most necessary condition. So simple it must 
be in its workings that one would not care to expend 
brain-power in solving problems such as life oflPers every 
moment. 

"The ' arithmograph^ of Monsieur Troucet offers all 
these advantages at the first glance; but it works only prob- 
lems in the four fundamental rules — addition, subtraction, 
multiplication, and division. The apparatus is remarkably 
simple. It has no cylinders, no cranks, no wheels, no 
springs, no mechanical clock-work, subject to disturbance 
and disorder, but consists of a light white board on which 
are fastened a number of slats set in grooves. These slats 
work independently of each other, and are moved up and 
down by a peg. 

"It can not be asserted that the ' arithmograph,' like 
many other inventions, is the result of a happy accident. 
On the contrary, the simpler an invention is, the more 
time, labor, and expense it takes to realize it. This inven- 
tion is the result of six years' hard, incessant labor. The 
passion of the inventor is perhaps the most ethical of all 
human passions, since it is not destructive, but of benefit 
— if not to the inventor himself, it is so at least to the 
human race; but it is to be hoped that M. Troucet will 
find the remuneration he deserves before he dies. He 
seems to be a professional inventor, for he has secured 
a number of patents; but this one is destined to pay for 
them all." 

When carefully examining the apparatus I asked myself, 
Will it not be of serious evil consequences for the intellectual 
culture of children to replace their mental activity by a ma- 
chine ? For this machine adds, subtracts, multiplies, and 
divides with absolute accuracy, provided one makes no mis- 
takes in touching the correct digits. All the manipulator 
has to do is to put the peg into a little aperture corresponding 
with the digit beside it and pull the slat down or push it up 



378 PARIS. 

as the operation demands, and the answer appears at another 
hole provided for it. Or rather, Is not all addition, sub- 
traction, multiplication, and division a mechanical process 
depending upon the memory ? To me it was and still is a 
perplexing question. Perhaps the apparatus will soon make 
its appearance in America. I leave my colleagues to decide 
upon its merits. 

13. Crumbs.— Notes from the Schools of Paris. 

A French flag (the tricolor) hangs over the entrance of 
every communal school-house in Paris. These flags look 
rather shabby, being exposed to all kinds of weather. 

I found a room filled with plaster casts, geometrical bod- 
ies, and other models for drawing purposes, in every school- 
house I visited in Paris. 

The city maintains many evening schools for young men." 
In one of them I saw the students model human forms from 
life. Think of a nude person posing before a class of unripe 
boys under or little above twenty ! 

Drawing and mathematics are the chief subjects of study 
in the evening schools. 

Most of the young boys and girls in the schools of Paris 
wear black blouses, not jackets and coats. "When I asked 
whether that was a sort of uniform, my informant smiled 
and answered no ; that was the usual style of children's 
outer garments in Paris. 

When a guest or the principal enters a school-room in a 
boys' school, the pupils promptly jump up and salute him 
by raising the right hand to their head — that is, give the 
regular military salute. If the guest fails to answer in the 
same manner, they remain in that position until he does an- 
swer or leaves. 

The pupils here are not dismissed by classes, but in 
groups according to the streets they live in. All the pupils 
of one street go together till they reach the boulevard, where 
a policeman pilots them safely through the maelstrom of 
cabs, wagons, and omnibuses. 



CRUMBS.— NOTES FROM THE SCHOOLS OF PARIS. S79 

Comparatively few children are seen in the streets of 
Paris, partly owing to the high houses, the upper stories of 
which they inhabit, partly because the French families have 
fewer children than the Germans, for instance. 

The hissing sound sss ! or sh-sh-sh 1 as an order for silence, 
is not heard in Parisian schools. Both male and female 
teachers here, in order to call for silence, make either that 
smacking sound which we employ in driving horses, or the 
sound of a kiss. It sounds odd if one is not accustomed 
to it. 

In the corridor of each school in Paris is seen a very 
elaborate and beautiful "Table of Honor" in heavy gilt 
frame, containing the names of meritorious pupils. 

In one of the girls' schools I noticed that canceling was 
resorted to in the study of arithmetic as early as the fourth 
year of school. 

In another girls' school, in a class parallel to our D Gram- 
mar (fifth year of school), I found girls of ten and eleven 
years of age working problems in percentage and interest. 
This was the problem: "To find the interest on 52,100 francs 
for two years and a half at the rate of 3*75 per cent." 

The schools in Paris do not teach singing as thoroughly 
as this is done in Germany and in the United States. Their 
songs are not melodious and harmonious, but dramatic like 
the " Marseillaise." The children's voices are weak, and the 
most difficult song I heard in Parisian schools was two-part 
music. 

In regard to the manner of teaching seen in Paris, I am 
confident that altogether too much reciting in chorus is re- 
sorted to. To hear a class solve a problem in chorus has 
something like the aspect of a panic in a theatre — the strong 
ones reach the door, the weak ones are trampled under foot 
or are dragged along. 

To see the happy crowds of French boys employed in 
sawing, planing, polishing, turning, carving, modeling, 
building, etc., is a sight never to be forgotten. They jabber, 
spit into their palms, and handle hammer, saw, and plane as 



380 PARIS. 

though their lives depended upon the completion of the work 
under hand. 

But to see the pale and yellow countenances of all these 
children, among" whom the red, healthy, glowing cheeks of 
our Western school -children is rarely found, is also a sight 
worth remembering, and pondering. 

The number of " ecoles primaire " (elementary common 
schools) in Paris is four hundred and fifty -four, namely, one 
hundred and seventy-four boys' schools, one hundred and 
seventy -five girls' schools, and one hundred and five mater- 
nal schools. The latter have pupils below six years of age, 
and resemble the Kindergarten. 

The faces of the children in Paris are not pretty, to put it 
mildly. Many very ugly visages are seen among them. 

Teachers are not the same all the world over. I noticed 
a peculiar indefinable air of immaturity among them here 
in Paris which is not found among American teachers. 
Principals and inspectors are much more men of the 
world, since they come in contact with the world more 
frequently. 

Among all the teachers I saw in Paris, the women prin- 
cipals make the best impression. They are very refined in 
manners. They are splendid-looking women, indeed, and 
the teachers look up to them with much reverence. 

The principal of one of the schools I saw is an Alsatian. 
He had his school in very good trim, discipline and order 
were perfect, and the results exhibited were quite commend- 
able. He spoke with great enthusiasm of the excellent re- 
sults he had noticed in German schools lately. During the 
last summer he had employed his vacation in making a trip 
through southern Germany. When I spoke to him about 
the excitable nature of the French children and teachers, he 
said : " We know no better, and think this the normal state 
of being. When I was in Frankfort I wondered greatly 
about the (what seemed to me) listlessness of the pupils. 
They were very quiet and apparently stupid, and raised their 
hands only when questions were asked. It was a strange 



MAKING BEAUTY CONTAGIOUS. 381 

spectacle to me, I suspect, though, that this quiet, slow 
movement hides a great, robust, physical, and mental 
strength. France experienced something of that strength 
and discipline at her expense in the war of 1870-71." 

This principal regaled us with a taste of Alsatian wine 
which proved genuine " stocking-wine " (so sour that it draws 
the holes in the drinker's stockings together). Do not he 
shocked, kind reader; it was in his own dwelling that he 
offered us the wine. And please remember that it is not 
well to air your American predilections and principles when 
journeying through Europe. When in Rome, do as the 
Romans do ; and when in Paris, drink wine. Shun the water 
as you would poison, for reasons too near at hand to men- 
tion them. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

from other french cities. 

1. Making Beauty contagious. 

While I greatly admired the beauty of the French dis- 
play of school-work at the New Orleans Exposition, and the 
skill it betrayed, I harbored a lurking doubt as to its genu- 
ineness, and an apprehension of sham. At least I suspected 
that the splendid apparatus, contrivances, and devices for 
objective teaching, exhibited there, were the results of a few 
advanced schools only, so to speak ; of a fev/ bright educa- 
tional lights. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. 
On my tour through northeastern France I was determined 
to set my mind at rest with regard to this. 

Undoubtedly in Paris the schools are doing fine work, 
but Paris is not France. I am now prepared to say that my 
doubt was justified, and that the majority of schools in 
France are much inferior to the average of our city schools 



382 FROM OTHER FRENCH CITIES. 

in America. Yet, at every place where I stopped, and in 
every school I visited, I found a strong onward movement. 
The heroic efforts of the lamented Minister of Education, M. 
Paul Bert, and those of his less famous but equally active 
successors, are beginning to be felt everywhere. The dead- 
ening influence of the monks and nuns in school has ceased, 
only lay -teachers being now allowed to teach. 

It is only a few years since this new order has gone into 
effect, and one can not stamp and thereby raise an army of 
well-equipped teachers from the ground. But already one 
can see the beneficial influence of the act which separated 
church and school in France. Many are the indications 
which tend to prove the progressive spirit that has entered 
the French school, but I can not enumerate them here for 
want of space. One instance may suffice, one which will be 
found characteristically French. 

Let me tell what I saw in a convent school that had been 
changed into a city school. The city authorities — either the 
council or the school authorities — when assuming control 
over the school, ordered the walls of the class-rooms to be 
decorated with fresco-paintings. That order was carried out 
regardless of cost. It is a charming sight to see these walls 
beautifully bedecked with exquisite workmanship, truly ar- 
tistic allegorical figures in glorious, luminous colors ! It was 
said, when the matter came up for deliberation, that many 
pupils never have the opportunity of seeing beautiful rooms 
at home, living in squalid, filthy houses. They should there- 
fore be surrounded by beauty in rooms where they were 
obliged to live six hours every day. 

I mention this fact because it is freighted with the sug- 
gestion to imitate it. The American people, perhaps the 
richest nation on the face of the globe, can well afford to 
surround their children — the hope of the future — with things 
of beauty, which are "joys forever." Esthetic education, 
however, is yet in its infancy in America. The children 
need to see beautiful things to learn to appreciate them. 
Much is done with us by beauty-loving women teachers, who 



COMPOSITION-BOOKS IN FRENCH SCHOOLS. 383 

succeed, with hardly any means at their disposal, in deco- 
rating their school-rooms with pictures, flowers, etc. ; but it 
should be preached from the house-tops that the schools 
ought to be perfect treasuries of art and beauty. Money 
spent in that direction is never throw^n away. We must 
accustom our children to beauty and make beauty infec- 
tious, just as Superintendent Howland, of Chicago, says that 
the good should be made contagious. 

2. Composition-Books in French Schools. 

It is well known that the French people have a trained 
eye for beauty. All the patterns of their machines and 
other contrivances, even the boxes in which they pack their 
goods, are ornamented elaborately and artistically. This 
highly developed sense of form and beauty I knew was due 
to the loving care which French teachers bestow upon draw- 
ing and sketching in school, and in no small degree to the 
many art-schools maintained by the state and by com- 
munities. 

But I was struck with wonder when I went through a 

lyceum at R Ca high-school). I was requested to look 

over the composition-books of the pupils. There I thought 
I had found the secret spring of French art — its fountain- 
head. 

Each composition was headed by a pencil-sketch drawn 
either in rude outlines or beautifully shaded. Some of these 
illustrations were real masterpieces of drawing, representing 
landscape scenery; others were clumsy delineations, but all 
compositions contained at least some attempt at illustration. 
(Compare also page 356.) 

Being desirous of showing my readers some specimens, 
I selected a few composition- books and asked for their loan 
with a view to copying some of the designs. After school a 
delegation of students called at the hotel and brought the 
books, asking whether they might assist me in copying. I 
could not well accept their services — though politely offered 
— and traced some sketches myself. Here is the result : 



384 



FROM OTHER FRENCH CITIES. 



The subject of one of the compositions was " The Zones,'* 
and this was the sketch accompanying it. (Fig. 448.) 




Fig. 448. 



Another was " The Digestive Organs," and the liver, here 
minutely reproduced as I found it sketched, served the writer 
as one of his illustrations. (Fig. 449.) 





Fig. 449. 



Fig. 450. 



The third composition was profusely illustrated with 
sketches of flowers. I copied the simplest, to show the ac- 
curacy of representation. One glance shows what flower 
it is (Fig. 450.) 



COMPOSITION-BOOKS IN FRENCH SCHOOLS. 



385 




Fig. 451. 



A fourth, again on a physiological subject, was illus- 
trated with sketches of bones and muscles. This is one of 
them. (Fig. 451.) 

A fifth treated of 
the human teeth, and 
these sketches may suf- 
fice to prove the ar- 
tistic skill of the boy. 
(Fig. 452.) 

I will refrain from 
reflections which are 
crowding my mind 
with regard to this 
practice, but call at- 
tention to the fact that 
the subjects of all the 
compositions I exam- 
ined were taken from 
the studies the pupils 
then pursued. A class 
studying astronomy 
would write composi- 
tions on astronomical 
subjects ; a class in 
history would write on 
historical subjects, and 
sketch battle-fields and 

maps, chiefly exhibiting changes in boundaries and move- 
ments of armies, etc. And so on, ad infinitum. 

It is worthy of our notice that composition thus treated 
is the legitimate offspring of the day's studies. These pupils 
can not complain of having to write of something foreign 
to their comprehension or experience. The compositions 
they furnish are summaries of what they learn in a certain 
study, and such com position- work greatly assists the reten- 
tion of matter in the memory. 

I sincerely hope that my readers will give this a little 




Fig. 452. 



386 



FROM OTHER FRENCH CITIES. 



consideration. The practice of composing in pictures as 
well as in words seems eminently suggestive and worthy 
of imitation. Don't let us say, " What good can come from 
Nazareth ? " but try the sketching, and see whether we can 
not, in ten or twenty years from now, beat the French in 
their models and patterns. The Centennial Exposition in 
Philadelphia has opened our eyes, as it did those of the 
Germans. To-day, our endeavors in art are vastly better 
and much in advance of those previous to 1876, but a sys- 
tematic propagation of the art of sketching in our high- 
schools, academies, and other secondary schools, will do 
wonders, as it did in France and Germany. 

3. More Devices, not Methods. 

In the pretty, picturesque town of M , in France, about 

twenty miles southeast of Sedan, I visited several schools 
with the view to mining them for treasures of methods of 




Fig. 453. 



teaching such as I found in Germany and Holland ; but I 
was very much disappointed until the rector who took me 
around was called away. Being left to myself, I began to 



MORE DEVICES, NOT METHODS. 



387 



search without help, and, chatting more at ease with the 
teachers, I unearthed a few things worthy of notice. The 
most practical thing was a set of pigeon-holes called a " nu- 
meration-box. " Here is a sketch of it (Fig. 453). 

Each compartment was large enough to hold nine little 
blocks of uniform size — only nine, not ten, as one would 
naturally suppose when speaking of numeration and nota- 
tion. I inquired why not ten, and was told that just so soon 
as ten units were completed they were exchanged for a dif- 
ferent-colored block which stood for one of the next higher or- 
der and was placed in the second compartment. Numeration, 
addition, and subtraction, multiplication and division, were 
practiced by means of this device, of course with rather lim- 
ited numbers. 

The same idea, illustrated by a similar home-made con- 
trivance, I had met in the Female College of Dr. S. Lander, 



o 


OOCOOOCCXDO 


OOOOOO oooo 








oooooE^^'^ 



ooooooo 



III 



Fig. 454. 



in Williamston, S. C. He had invented it, and you can im- 
agine my astonishment when here in France I found it in 
general use. The idea of giving room for only nine units 
of each order in each compartment certainly is the same, 
whatever differences there may exist in the shape of the de- 
vices in France and South Carolina. 

One would naturally suppose that room for ten units 
should be provided for as I did in my " numeration board," 
explained in "Chips from a Teacher's Workshop." (Fig. 
454). 



388 FROM. OTHER FRENCH CITIES. 

Tliere will perhaps always be an honest difference of 
opinion as to whether nine or ten units of each order should 
be provided for. So much, however, is clear to my mind, 
that the fact of the blocks being of uniform size confuses 
the child, who can not see that the mere placing a block in 
the second compartment should raise its intrinsic value ; 
and if it is not to be thus understood, the Avhole device is 
valueless. 

I understand that a digit being placed or moved to the 
left should change its value. A 6 in the second place is the 
same kind of a 6 used in the unit's place ; but it will not do 
to make symbols of the objects. While on the numeration 
board ten pencils fastened together make a bundle of ten or 
one unit of the ten's column, the numeration-box does not 
permit the fact to be illustrated. It only symbolizes the 
fact, and that at the very moment w^hen the fact itself 
should impress itself upon the child's mind. 

I discussed this question with the French teacher, who 
grew quite eloquent on the matter — much more eloquent 
(and vehement, too) than the cool and level-headed genuine 
American, Dr. Lander, could ever be. Neither gentleman 
convinced me, perhaps owing to my obtuseness, and we 
agreed to disagree. By placing the two contrivances before 
my readers, I am prepared to rest the case and to submit it 
to the decision of the jury. 

4. Also a Device, but oh! 

Noticing a queer - looking, rubber, hose-like apparatus 
hanging in easy reach of a teacher in a French school, I in- 
quired after its use, and was shocked to hear that this instru- 
ment was employed in flogging bad boys. " Why don't you 
use an old-fashioned switch or elastic cane ? " I asked ; and 
with a cunning wdnk and a look of deep comprehension of 
all the bearings of the case, the teacher said, in subdued tone, 
" This stings better, clings to the body, and leaves no welts 
or discolored marks. " Of course, this led us into a conver- 
sation on corporal punishment, which revealed the fact that 



IGNORANCE AND CHAUVINISM. 389 

we barbarians at home are better than these highly civilized 
people, who with all their varnish of artistic culture are ig- 
norant of the true dignity of the human being which should 
be respected even in the child. 

5. Ignorance and CnirviNiSM of French Teachers. 

Several amusing incidents occurred during my visits in 

French schools. In N a teacher (a monk) asked me, 

when I was introduced to him as coming from Ohio, whether 
I had come overland or by way of Panama. Perhaps he mis- 
took Oregon for Ohio. Another claimed that " the French 
language was the ruling language in Louisiana and other 
States (sic) which were originally settled by the French." 
That we in Ohio need not necessarily daily dread the loss of 
our scalps, being in such immediate neighborhood of the 
wild Indians (as they believe), is a thing impossible to make 
them see. 

The worst case of " mistaken identity " I ever met with 
in a school-teacher I found in a French school, where the 
teacher taught a middle grade, something like the sixth 
school year, I should judge. It was a geography-lesson I 
heard, and America was the topic of the day. The teacher, 
without blushing — on the contrary, with the chest tone of 
conviction and the gestures of a stump-speaker — told his 
class that the United States were founded by men who were 
nurtured by the grand and lofty ideas of the French Revo- 
lution, which great event had actually changed not only the 
European modes of government, but those of America also. 
During the short recess which followed, my patriotism got 
the better of me, and I asked him for the date of the French 
Revolution, which he gave correctly, to wit, 1789. Then I 
asked him for the date of our national birthday, and his an- 
swer was a blank stare. I quietly told him it was 1776. I 
will do the man justice, though. He blushed like a girl of 
sixteen, remembering the vainglorious statement he had 
made to the class in my presence. 



390 FROM OTHER FRENCH CITIES. 



6. Molding Maps. 

Interesting was a lesson in molding I saw in France in a 
class of young children studying geography. Nothing but 
putty and a small board of hard, polished wood was used. 
And thus the teacher proceeded : 

" Children, spread out the putty evenly, as you see me 
do it. Now, when you see land level like this, without 
hills and valleys, we call it a plain. Do we live on a plain ? 
No, we do not. Over yonder is a pretty big hill. Now, let 
us make a hill on the right side of the molding-board. 'Tis 
done. But, Charles, your hill is too steep ; no person could 
climb it. Look through the window at the hill there. Is 
that as steep as your hill ? Now suppose the hill was very 
high, so high that it reached into the clouds, what would we 
call it ? A mountain, assuredly, a mountain. Just think, 
there is a mountain in la belle France, the top of which is 
always covered with ice and snow ; it is more than 15,000 
feet high." (The actor — pardon, the teacher — did not give 
the height in metres; perhaps he thought "15,000 feet" 
would make a deeper impression. Everything for effect !) 
'' Now suppose that another hill is on the other side. Make 
one. Make it higher than your first hill. Very well, in- 
deed ! What is that low place between the hills called ? 
Oh, yes ; a valley. But if the hills were very near together, 
and the valley very steep, would you call it a valley ? No ? 
Quite right ; we would call it a gully, or ravine. " 

Then he let the pupils see that water seelvs its level by 
pouring water from the top of his hill of putty. It filled 
the ravine and formed a river. Now rivers, lakes, water- 
sheds, and sundry topics were mentioned, cities were located, 
and soon the lesson was brought to a close. It was as good 
as going to the theatre to hear this excitable man talk and 
see his gestures. The pupils, of course, were like so many 
globules of mercury. Moral. — A sedate, calm, self-possessed 
teacher has quiet pupils ; an excited teacher unruly pupils, 
and not only jn France, but all the world over. 



AD OCULOS" EVIDENCE. 



391 



7. *'Ad Oculos" Evidence. 

As to tlie work done in French schools, it remains for- 
ever true that that depends entirely and exclusively upon 
the teacher. A good teacher is very conspicuous here, 
though, being a vara avis. 

A little incident amused me greatly when attending a 
class which wrestled with the rudiments of geometry. A 
very active and demonstrative French teacher, and evi- 
dently a successful one, proved to his class that the sum of 
the three angles of any triangle is equal to two right angles.* 
And he did it by first cutting a triangle out of a sheet of 
pasteboard ; then drawing a straight line on the blackboard, 
he laid one side of the triangle on the line and drew the 
angle a. Then he placed angle h side by side with angle a, 
and of course angle e completed the space above the straight 
line. That there are two right angles on a straight line was 
known from the definition of right angles. 




Fig. 455. 



It was a demonstration ad oculos, though not new to me, 

having seen it used by Dr. R , of New York. The amusing 

part of it was, that it was " performed" by a French teacher 
who was a born actor, and it afforded a rare sight, equaled, 
perhaps, only by Prof. Sauveur's inimitable movements 
when he intends to indicate a French word, but does not want 
to translate it into English. This same French teacher caused 
his pupils to make of pasteboard most of the geometrical 
bodies used in the class. The well-developed sense of form 
of the boys was proved by the faultless specimens exhibited. 
However, that feature of school-work I had seen so often 
in German schools that it did not interest me any longer. 



392 VIENNA. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

VIENNA. 

1. A Successful and an Unsuccessful Lesson. 

In a people's school in Vienna I chanced to hear a lesson 
on metals. Iron, lead, copper, silver, and gold were discussed, 
and numerous specimens handed around, rather to illustrate 
the lesson, as I thought, than to aid the comprehension of 
the subject-matter. The teacher lectured, only throwing in 
a question now and then, like, "Is it not so ? Don't you 
think so too ? " A handsome reference was made to a prov- 
erb and that was applied in a new way. A dim specimen of 
gold quartz gave occasion to quote the wise saw, " Not all 
is gold that glitters," and then amend it by adding, " Neither 
does everything glitter that is gold." One feature of the 
lesson struck me as worthy of mention. When the weight 
of different metals was spoken of, it was difficult to convince 
the pupils that gold is heavier than copper. But the teacher 
showed an Austrian copper kreutzer (worth one cent) and a 
German golden ten-mark piece (worth $2.50). Both coins 
are of the same size and thickness. He laid the two on the 
scale, and thus proved that gold outweighs copper. No bet- 
ter ad oculos proof could be brought. 

When the methods of obtaining gold from mines were 
touched, the digging and washing were first mentioned, 
then the crushing of ore; and thus the teacher lectured: 
" The quartz is brought up from the mine " (a specimen was 
handed around); "it is laid under a heavy iron column 
which vibrates up and down, and with its tremendous weight 
crushes the ore, so that it becomes fine sand. The little gold 
leaves that adhered to the mineral are thus loosened. The 
column is worked up and down by cog-wheels, as this sketch 
shows." (Teacher drew the figure on the board.) " Now the 
question arises, How to separate the gold from the sand ? 
It is done by giving the gold a friend that takes hold of it, 



A SUCCESSFUL AJ^D AN UNSUCCESSFUL LESSON. 393 



namely, quicksilver." (Specimen is shown, and its affinity 
for gold proved.) "This unites with the gold and gathers 
up all the small particles loosened from the mineral. 

" Now the gold is severed from the mineral, but the next 
question arises. How to sep- 
arate the quicksilver from 
the gold ? This is done by 
letting the quicksilver evap- 
orate in a furnace. The 
gold remains in the bottom 
of the crucible. Thus the 
gold is set free from useless 
matter." The manner in 
which the teacher presented 
facts might have been very 
interesting to older pupils, 
and on the surface the les- 
son appeared a highly suc- 
cessful one. But, while I 
must admit that the pupils 
followed him in his "lect- 
ure " very attentively, I 
doubt whether their being 
left mere passive recipients 
of knowledge insured the 
success which he expected. 

In another grade of a 
similar school I witnessed a 
lesson in physics which on 
the surface appeared a most 
unsuccessful one. Magnet- 
ism and electricity was the 

subject. The experiments performed miscarried in many 
instances, because the pupils who performed them did not 
employ that care and circumspection which is so necessary 
with apparatus for illustrating this subject. But the teacher 
made his pupils work out every problem, think out every 




Fig. 456. 



394: VIENNA. 

conclusion, and be as self-active in the pursuit of knowledge 
as tliey could be. He never made a positive statement, never 
announced a result himself, but allowed and even begged the 
pupils to do that for him, " to help him a little," as he craftily 
termed it. 

One experiment failed also under the skillful hands of 
the teacher, and, when he appeared much worried (not that 
he was so, but he wanted to appear so), he said : " I want to 
prove this and that, and my experiment has failed; what 
can be the reason ? " Suggestions were made by the pupils, 
and each was tested, until some one's suggestion proved to be 
right, namely, that the glass rod had not been rubbed suffi- 
ciently to cause electricity which could be noticed. Thus, 
with laudable perseverance of both teacher and pupils, the 
desired effect was produced, and was the more gratifying, 
inasmuch as the cause of the failure had been discovered 
without aid. 

The pupils' sympathy with the teacher's feigned discom- 
fort, when his experiment failed, was touching to behold, 
and one said, " We believe your statement without seeing 
the experiment." But he replied: "No, children, though I 
heartily thank you for your confidence, I can not rest sat- 
isfied; you must see it to remember it." With rare circum- 
spection the teacher kept order, looked after the language 
of his pupils, reviewed from time to time to keep the whole 
train of causes and effects vividly before the class ; he 
animated the class to ever-new efforts, and, while seeming 
to be a "side-show," he really was a motive power of rare 
effect. 

Is it necessary to state which of the two lessons was the 
successful and which the unsuccessful one ? 

2. An Object-Lesson in the Primary Grade. 

It was in the practice-school of the classic "Paedago- 
gium " in Vienna (Dr. Fr. Dittes was rector of the institution 
for many years), that I heard a lesson in arithmetic ac- 
cording to Grube. The children were just climbing from 10 



AN OBJECT-LESSON IN THE PRIMARY GRADE. 395 

to 20 in numbers, and solved such examples as 8 + 6, 9+8, 
7 + 5, etc. Every example was solved by doing* (that is, per- 
forming it with match-sticks and other objects) and thinking. 
At the close of the lesson, all " helps " were laid aside, and 
examples were solved orally alone. The subject is too well 
known to sketch this beautiful lesson. 

Then followed a language-lesson, which had for its sub- 
ject "The Winter." A large picture (published by Eduard 
Hoelzel, in Vienna) was used. It is a magnificent winter 
landscape. In the background was seen a city, with smoke- 
stacks, church-steeples, etc. On the left, a road with a black- 
smith's shop ; on the right, a pond on which children skated ; 
in the foreground, a coasting-slide and a group of children 
making a snow-man, were seen. The picture offered sev- 
eral other interesting scenes, such as cutting ice on the pond, 
sleighing, shoveling snow, etc. High up, in the gray, win- 
try air were seen crows. The hill-sides, roads, roofs, trees, 
and bushes were covered with snow. This picture is 
quite large and can be folded together. It belongs to a 
series of four pictures (mounted on muslin) representing 
the four seasons. I found these lovely pictures in many 
primary schools on the Continent of Europe, they are even 
more frequently provided in England than in Germany 
and France. 

I can not sketch the entire lesson. Only one episode is 
vividly imprinted on my memory. I will endeavor to re- 
produce it, for it is a proof of how consistently little children 
of six years can " reason out things," and how well they talk 
when they have something to say : 

Teacher. " What kind of a bird is this ? " 

Pupil. ''A crow." 

Teacher. '' What do you notice on the snow around the 
bird?" 

Pupil. "Many of the crow's footprints." 

Teacher. " What do they tell you ? " 

Pupil. " That the bird must have hopped about there." 

Teacher, " What may it want there ? " 



396 VIENNA. 

Pupil. " It is looking" for food; it may be hungiy." 

Teacher. " Is the crow a shy bird, or as free and easy as 
a sparrow ? " 

Pupil. " I think it is a very shy bird." 

Teacher. " Where does it build its nest ? " 

Pupil. "High up in the trees of the woods, far away 
from houses. " 

Teacher. " What, then, may be the reason of its coming 
so near to the blacksmith's shop, where boys are playing and 
dogs are kept ? " 

Pupil. " Because it is likely to find food near a shop like 
that." 

Teacher. " Yes, but, if it is so shy a bird as you say it is, 
I should think it would not dare to come so near men and 
their houses ? " 

Pupil. " Well, I think it wouldn't if it could find any 
food in the fields. But don't you see the fields are cov- 
ered with deep snow ! how will a poor crow get food 
there ? So it comes near the blacksmith's shop. It is very 
hungry, and I think those crows high up in the air have 
sent this one down to see whether there is any food to be 
found. If they get a chance, they will come, too, and get 
some." 

Teacher. " Yes, dear, that's very well said. I think that 
must be it." 

The language of the school-children in Vienna is very 
good. The absence of those detestable dialects found near 
the Rhine, in Berlin, in Bavaria, and especially in Switzer- 
land, makes teaching in Vienna delightful. Aside from the 
word " halt," used perhaps too frequently, the German of the 
people in Vienna is very good. 

3. A Lesson in Grammar. 

A very instructive lesson, illustrating the '' constructive 
method " in grammar, was given in my presence in Vienna. 
The subject of the lesson was the use of prepositions requir- 
ing the "genitive case." The so-called adverbial preposi- 



A LESSON IN GRAMMAR. 397 

tions instead of, for the sake of without or outside, within 
or inside, in virtue of, according to, in spite of, on account 
of, for the sake of, notivithstanding, in consequence of, in 
behalf of, in presence of, in the midst of, and numerous 
others, were placed on the board, and it was required to in- 
troduce or apply them in sentences all of which stood in 
connection and formed a composition. Since the children 
of Vienna, as a rule, speak the German language singularly- 
free from grammatical errors, the cases dependent upon 
prepositions make little difficulty. While children in other 
parts of Germany avoid a noun in the genitive case and sub- 
stitute the nominative or the preposition of {vo7i) the chil- 
dren in Vienna say correctly, for instance, " Des Wetter s 
wegen,''^ '' In Gegenwart des Lehrers,^"* " Diesseits des Fluss- 
es," etc. 

The work I saw was class- work, and all the pupils worked 
to make a readable composition. The above-mentioned 
prepositional phrases, together with simpler prepositions, 
such as above, below, along, were used, and the result was a 
very pretty description of the city of Gratz. When this was 
finished, the prepositions were underscored, and the nouns 
dependent upon them marked. It was a most interesting 
lesson, which proved that grammar may be learned by doing 
better than by learning it by heart verbatim et literatim. 
But the best part of the lesson followed when the teacher 
suggested to the pupils that they might make similar com- 
positions. The result of this work was very gratifying. 
One of the compositions was a description of "A Pretty 
Spot," somewhat like the one in my " German by Practice," 
which is reproduced here. 

The reader who has not studied German gramm^ar will 
perhaps object to the use of the term " prepositional phrases " 
as used above ; but it is really the most convenient name for 
such expressions. I reproduce also a little narrative which 
was used to illustrate the use of prepositions governing both 
the dative and accusative case. It is reasonable to suppose 
that children find more pleasure in thus practically learning 



398 VIENNA. 

^ammar than in first learning rules by heart and then 
applying them. 

" A Pretty Spot. — ¥ot far from our house stands a pretty grove. 
People from the city often come to have a picnic in it during the hot 
season. Above a mighty rock in the middle of the grove a spring bubbles 
forth. Its water flows along within a narrow bed between flowery banks. 
77m side of the brooklet a foot-path leads toward the mill-dam. Below 
the latter stands an old mill leaning against the rocks. A narrow bridge 
without a railing leads across the brook, and on the other side of it a 
shady arbor invites the weary wanderer to take a rest. Inside of the old 
building the mill clatters lively, and outside of it the great mill-wheel 
turns slowly. Despite its slow course, it sets the whole machinery in 
motion. The splashing water and the shade-trees cause a pleasant cool- 
ness, even during the hottest season. I like to sit here with my books 
on account of the beautiful scenery before me." 

" The Light of the Faithful Sister. — Many years ago there lived a girl 
in a lonely fisherman's hut on the coast of the North Sea. Father and 
mother were dead, and her brother was far out on the sea. With a long- 
ing heart she remembered the dead, and waited patiently for the return 
of the absent brother. When the brother went to sea, she had prom- 
ised him that she would place a light in the window every night. The 
light would shine far over the sea, and it was to tell him that his sister 
Elke was still alive, and waiting for him. She faithfully kept her prom- 
ise. Every evening she placed her lamp near the window, and many an 
hour in the daytime was spent by her in looking out on the waves and 
passing vessels. Whenever a ship hove in sight, she hoped it would bring 
her dearly beloved brother back to her. Months passed, years passed, 
but the brother did not return. Perhaps he was shipwrecked. Elke 
grew old and gray, but, still faithful to her pledge, she often sat near 
the window of her lonely hut, gazing out upon the sea, and not an even- 
ing passed on which she did not place on the window-sill a lamp well 
provided with oil. Thus she waited and waited ; she waited fifty years. 
One night the light went out ; her window remained dark. The neighbors 
saw it from afar and cried, " Ah, at last, Elke's brother has come ! " 
They hurried to her hut to welcome him home. When they opened the 
door they found old Elke dead and stiff, still leaning toward the window, 
as though still gazing out on the troubled waves. Beside her stood the 
lamp, the light of which had gone out." 



MANUAL TRAIXINa-SCHOOLS IN VIENNA. 399 

4. Manual Training-Schools in Vienna. 

Introduction. — It is difficult to decide which of the two 
cities — Vienna or Leipsic — accomplishes most in manual 
training". In Leipsic the efforts are more concentrated ; in 
Vienna they are spread over the different parts of the city, 
and I believe in due course of time this wise policy will re- 
sult in popularizing the work sufficiently to call for its in- 
troduction into the common schools. At i^resent (March, 
1888) manual training- is not a part of the curriculum of the 
common schools, though all the manual training-schools are 
held in public-school houses. The work is done after school 
hours ; but the popularity which manual occupation has ob- 
tained among pupils, teachers, and school authorities in 
Vienna bids fair to predict an early introduction of manual 
training into the daily programme. 

The manual training normal school in Vienna is rapidly 
increasing the number of instructors who can teach the occu- 
pations rationally and methodically, and teachers who have 
a professional preparation are considered the conditio sine 
qua non in Austria as well as in Germany. I am aware of 
the stubborn fact that the average American school official 
argues differently. Professional training is not so much in 
demand here as in Europe. The question whether a nor- 
mal-school graduate or a college graduate is the better pre- 
pared teacher is still a mooted question with us. We are 
very apt to shirk responsibility by introducing new methods 
without the wherewithal to maintain them. Singing, draw- 
ing, objective teaching, Kindergarten occupations, and other 
things, were introduced vtdthout much, if any, jDreparation 
on the part of the teachers. The result has been, as Dr. Hail- 
mann has so convincingly shown, that they were seized by 
" the machine. " I am very much afraid that manual training 
will have a similar fate, because not a sufficient number of in- 
structors can be had in America to teach the work to justify 
so broad and general an introduction as recently took place 
in Nevf York. Still, I shall be hajjpy to find that I have been 
27 



400 VIENNA. 

mistaken ; and, if this book contributes its mite toward help- 
ing manual training along, it will find in that its best 
reward. 

Mr. Alois Bruhns, the rector of one of the manual train- 
ing-schools, has published a hand-book which is used exclu- 
sively in Vienna. The sketches of pupils' work on the fol- 
lowing pages are selected from this hand-book ; but before I 
selected them I convinced myself that they were copies of 
pupils' efforts. I found the boys at work at them, and what 
they accomplished agreed exactly with the drawings I here 
submit. 

They are typical selections, and are here inserted to 
show^ : 

1. That the occupations of the boys are more like those 
in Leipsic than those in Paris. The boys produce articles of 
utility, and not merely exercises for the purpose of learning 
the use of hands and tools. 

2. That, like the work in Leipsic, that in Vienna, is me- 
thodically arranged and well graded. 

3. That in wood-carving and modeling they accomplish 
more than in Leipsic, though less than in Paris. 

4. That they confine themselves in Vienna to pasteboard 
work, joiner's and carpenter's work, wood - carving, and 
modeling, and that they have not introduced metal-work as 
yet. 

My observations in the Vienna manual training-schools 
lead me to say that their educational influence upon the 
boys is far greater than that of " travail manuel " schools in 
Paris, because the teachers are specially prepared for this 
kind of work and are public-school teachers, while the in- 
structors of the " travail manuel " schools in Paris are artisans 
who pay more attention to the technical results than to the 
educational influence w^hich the work may have upon the 
pupils. Nowhere in Germany and in Vienna did I find any 
non-professional teachers at work in manual training-schools 
except in one instance. This case is worth mentioning. In 
Leipsic I met a master-joiner as instructor in the common 



MANUAL TRAINING-SCHOOLS IN VIENNA. 



401 



school who sneered at American tools, saying that the wav- 
ing- handles of our axes and other " so-called " improvements 
(sic) were useless ; that for effectiveness he wanted straight- 
handled German tools, etc. In justice to the institution I 
must say that he stood alone in his opinion ; all others 
present— instructors and students— agreed that American 
tools far surpass the German in durability and usefulness. 




Fig. 457 



National pride is a virtue, but it becomes a vice as soon 
as it is blind to the excellent progress other nations are mak- 
ing, and effectually prevents the individual from improving 
himself. It matters not whether we find it in an Austrian 
workman, or in an American teacher who objects to " Ger- 



402 VIENNA. 

man methods " on the plea that this is America, etc. We all 
know the song ; and we know the author, too. 

A Work-hench. — The reader will find in the following" il- 
lustrations some attempts at " doing exercises," but they are 
not by far as numerous here as in Paris, and the articles 
made are, indeed, very elaborate affairs, as w411 be seen by 
comparing them with the work done in Paris. Like all other 
schools of this kind, those in Vienna insist ujoon drawing 
and sketching. No article is made which the pupil has not 
first represented in lines on the flat surface with or without 
shading. Only when the object stands clearly before his 
inner eye will he be allowed to produce it in paper and paste- 
board, in wood, clay, or plaster, etc. , as the case may be. 

In Vienna I found a novel and rather x^ractical work- 
bench made of old-fashioned school-desks and seats. This 
bench enables the teacher to do more class- work than he can 
do where single work-benches are in use. I copy a sketch 
of this bench, since it' may give some of my readers an im- 
petus to do likewise with old, discarded double desks that 
drag out their existence, under a load of dust, in the garret or 
cellar of the school-house. Making use of this old furniture 
may considerably decrease the cost of a first outfit for a man- 
ual training-school or class (Fig. 457). 

I. Pupils' Work. — A few samples of articles made of 
pasteboard and paper may show the variety and exactness 
of the work done in the Vienna manual training-schools 
(Figs. 458-465). 

II. Pupils' Work. — A few samples of joiner's work, show- 
ing the practical bent the boys get in the Vienna manual 
training-schools (Figs. 466-476). 

III. PupiW Work in joinery and carpentering done in 
the Vienna manual training-schools (Figs. 477-491). 

IV. Pupils^ Work. — The work in turning is not by far as 
tedious here in Vienna as I found it in Paris. The desire to 
apply the skill gained by making articles of use is well illus- 
trated by the few typical specimens I here offer (Figs, 
492-510). 



MANUAL TRAINING-SCHOOLS IN VIENNA. 403 




Figs. 458-4(55. 



404: 



VIENNA. 



v. Pupils' Woi'k. — In wood - carving tlie work is also 
more practical in Vienna than in Paris. Although decora- 
tion is the chief object of all wood-carving, it is easily seen 



- a 



ji 



LZT 




V ^^a^;^ 




Figs. 466-476. 



MANUAL TRAINING-SCHOOLS IN VIENNA. 405 




Figs. 477-491. 



406 



VIENNA. 



from the following specimens that the boys will labor with 
more pleasure at this kind of work than at doing exercises 
exclusively (Figs. 511-518). 




Figs. 492-510. 



MANUAL TRAINING-SCHOOLS IN VIENNA. 



407 



yj. Pupils' Work. — Though all the work done in the 
manual training-schools in Vienna is commendable and 
even praiseworthy, the best is that in modeling in clay and 
casting in plaster. Instead of many specimens, I will offer 





a— ^--ss 







r 1 1 In 




— h ^ - 

^ ! n n _ 


^1^1 f 











Figs. 511-518. 



408 



VIENNA. 



only one of the handsomest figures I found m the collection. 
It will speak more eloquently than I can do it of the devel- 
opment of the form, sense, and skill of the hand secured by 
modeling. I had frequently seen drawings made by pupils 




Fig. 519. 



SIMPLICITY IN THE WRONG PLACE. 409 

shaded beautifully ; but here I saw the drawing executed in 
clay and plaster by boys about fourteen years of age. Need- 
less to say that I admired them, and, I am afraid, showed it 
too plainly (Fig. 519). 



CHAPTER XV. 

switzerland and alsace. 
1. Simplicity in the Wrong Place. 

Simplicity in manners and customs is a proverbial virtue 
in the citizen of a republic ever since the time of Lycurgus ; 
and Cincinnatus and Curius, Fabricius and Fabius are noted 
examples of ancient Rome of that simplicity and civil virtue 
which seem to vanish before the conquering progress of 
culture. Without being conscious of it, we connect in our 
mind simplicity with honesty, and, though luxuriously in- 
clined ourselves, we can not but do homage to a true example 
of simplicity when we meet it. I went to Switzerland, and 
there found what I never expected to see — a sample of sim- 
plicity in the wrong place, a misdirected simplicity, coupled 
with a miserly economy and a brutal honesty — mark the 
words ! 

The Germans, and in these latter days the French also, 
consider the best barely good enough for their children. 
They are therefore always on the alert to catch what im- 
provements are offered in common-school education. I 
will not speak of material things, such as books, etc., but 
will confine myself to the world of ideas. There is no new 
idea in the realm of education that they do not instantly 
welcome; no device whose usefulness they will not test with- 
out delay ; no method that they will not at once apply in 
some experimental station ; no principle which they will not 
quickly seize to serve them as a subject for discussion ; no 
branch of study which they will not give a place in the cur- 
riculum of some school. 



410 SWITZERLAND AND ALSACE. 

It is an undeniable fact that the German school lives in 
the most unrivaled luxury with regard to ideas, branches of 
study, text-books, and other material things. Whether the 
fact that it is equally well supplied with teaching forces is the 
natural consequence of the undying aspiration and remark- 
able activity of the German school, or whether the latter is 
the result of the fact that the schools are manned with pro- 
fessional teachers, is a question of no importance here ; for 
Switzerland, where I found a deplorable absence of that 
luxury referred to, has also a profession of teaching. 

Having spent nearly nine months in France, Germany, 
Austria, and other countries of Europe, I came to Switzer- 
land fully prepared to witness in the land of Pestalozzi a 
progress in the schools of the people such as would take my 
breath away; but never was I more disappointed than when 
I did see schools in Switzerland. The poverty, or let me say 
the simplicity, of these schools in aims, in methods, and in 
equipment fairly disgusted me. I confined my observations 
to " people's schools " — that is, the primary schools, which in 
many places have a four years' course. Spending some time 
in many classes of various schools, and comparing the courses 
of study and the methods applied, I gathered a fair picture 
of the status quo of the Swiss public school for the lower 
strata of society, which does not satisfy me. 

In order to be able to defend this sweepiog assertion in 
case it should be attacked, I provided myself with the printed 
courses of instruction, the manuals used by the teachers, and 
some samples of pupils' work which were offered me by the 
teachers as excellent specimens. Judging from these proofs 
in black and w^hite and from ocular evidence, I concluded 
that the proverbial republican simplicity is here found in the 
wrong place. Since education in Switzerland is, as with us, 
not a matter of legislation of the Confederation, but of each 
separate canton, it is reasonable to suppose that my experi- 
ences are exceptional ones, and I am perfectly willing to 
offer the benefit of the doubt to any one who feels unjustly 
treated by my criticism. 



SIMPLICITY IN THE WRONG PLACE. 



411 



Let me proceed to state in what way I met with the " sim- 
plicity " referred to. I purposely avoid mentioning the 
names of the cities I visited. The results in drawing are 
very poor. There is a manual for instruction in drawing, 
in use in one of the larger cities, showing the work to be 
done in four years. This course is primitive to a fault. It 
can not be alleged to be an antiquated document, for it bears 
the date January, 1887. At the beginning of the fourth 
year, after three years' practice on slate and paper, the pu- 
pil's sense of form is still fed with " forms " like these: 




Fig. 520. 



In arithmetic there is equally little progress made. In 
the primer grade only addition and subtraction within 
the compass of 1 and 15 are practiced. In the second 
grade the children learn to count up to 100 by two's, three's, 
etc., and begin multiplication ; at the close of the second 
year, easy examples in division, such as 15 -r- 3 = 5. In 
the third year the compass is widened to 1,000, but each of 
the four fundamental rules is treated separately. No Grube 
method, or indeed any approach to it here. Grade four 
works long and short division examples in abstract numbers 
and is introduced into the world of denominate numbers. 
No fractions! And when by rare chance an expression, 
such as " i of 16," escapes the lips of the teacher, he intends 
it to mean, "Divide 16 by 3 and tell the remainder." I in- 
quired very anxiously after fractions, and was told that there 
was no attempt made at teaching fractions till the pupils en- 
tered the intermediate grades. Compare with this mental 
poverty what I observed in other schools. See, for instance, 
page 152, "The Augusta School in Berlin." 

I awaited a lesson in geography anxiously, to see whether 



412 SWITZERLAND AND ALSACE. 

in that branch also the same " conservatism " was exhibited. 
To be sure it was ! The geographical horizon of the pupils 
in the fourth year did not extend beyond the little landscape 
surrounding the city, and the maps made by the pupils of 
this home geography were the rudest possible. I was re- 
quested to look them over. The pride of the teacher over 
this work was so evident that I asked him to let me have a 
few to show mj^ friends in America. The request flattered 
him, and he selected a few of the best, which I am ready to 
exhibit as proofs of my statement. From these best ones 
one may judge of the worst. 

In language the results seemed anything but satisfactory, 
the teachers having to contend with an abominable dialect. 
How narrow the teachers of these Swiss schools are may be 
seen from the fact that they actually make a difference in 
pronunciation of ei and ai, two diphthongs for which the 
German language has but one sound : Rhein and Eain, mein 
and Main, are indistinguishable by the ear. Exercises in 
orthography are painfully monotonous, and the school-tone 
in reading and reciting found here is so abominable that it 
resembled a sing-song such as can be surpassed only by the 
old-fashioned oral spelling of the American school of times 
gone by: " C-o-n, Con, s-t-a-n, stan, Constan, t-i, ti, Constanti, 
n-o, no, p-l-e, pie, Constantinople." 

In singing, too, the results were unsatisfactory. No two- 
part music in the fourth school year, nothing but the simple 
melodies of popular and sacred airs, did I hear. Since it 
is reasonable to suppose that teachers and pupils put their 
best foot foremost when a visitor is present, I take it for 
granted that they regaled me with the best they could set 
before me. My visit occurred during the last month of the 
school year, and it can therefore not be urged as an excuse 
that the course of each school year had only just begun. 
The school year in Europe generally closes at Easter. 

A hand-book for teachers, entitled " Principles of Instruc- 
tion in the Primary Schools," which I procured, is full of 
narrow views and antiquated methods. No wonder the 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS. 41 3 

teachers looked like sleepy horses in a treadmill! No- 
where here did I find that fire of enthusiasm, that person- 
al magnetism, so often observed in other European and in 
American schools. Oh, what a disappointment that was 
for me, who had come to Switzerland with eager expecta- 
tion to find ideas and practices w^orthy of being transplant- 
ed to the fertile soil of the New World! Three cities I 
visited in Switzerland, and much money I spent in travel- 
ing and in costly hotels, and found nothing worthy of 
note. I left the country sorry that I was poorer by a 
cherished illusion. 

Still, I must not close this chapter without doing justice 
in some manner to the fact that reports of others are not in 
harmony with mine. Whether these people applied a dif- 
ferent standard of measurement, or I hapj)ened to strike 
the wrong places, I can not say. I read glowing accounts 
of some special Swiss schools, regular mines of information 
regarding theory and practice, and the professional jour- 
nals published in that country also are, as a rule, not so 
conservative and backward as one would think, judging 
from what I saw in the schools I visited ; but my sense of 
justice will not permit me to gloss over w^hat seemed to me 
faulty in toto. 

In one place in Switzerland I found a school for dullards 
(such as I described on pages 77-91), the influence of which 
was noticeable in the other schools, since it raised their 
standard considerably. I also found manual training- 
schools, but nowhere so finely an organized one nor such 
brilliant results as in Prussia, Saxony, Austria, and France. 

2. Industrial Education for Girls. 

In Mlilhausen (in Alsace) the schools have undergone 
great changes since Germany has regained it. Under the 
firm but wise management of Inspector Hipp, one improve- 
ment after another has been introduced, so that to-day the 
schools of this busy town rank among the best known in 
Alsace. The French rulers grievously sinned against the 



414 SWITZERLAND AND ALSACE. 

best interests of the province by neglecting school education. 
The buildings are still wretched, for the increase of pupils 
makes too great a demand upon the city treasury. Old fac- 
tory-buildings are changed to school-houses, and it needs no 
fertile imagination to picture to one's self the inconveniences 
arising therefrom. 

I found a "unicum" of a school here such as I hope 
never again to see — a school containing no less than sixty- 
two class-rooms, several offices, and the rector's dwelling, 
all in a conglomerate of buildings rickety and shabby. The 
pupils on the third floor must wait till the other floors are 
empty before they can be dismissed. The whole building is 
one great dangerous man-trap. In case of a fire, thousands 
of children's lives would be in danger. This school is a blot 
upon the fair reputation of the city of Miiihausen. 

But what excellent work is done in this old building! 
rtere is found an industrial school for boys, having four 
workshops. Here is also a most successful industrial school 
for girls. Compare these figures: Within the year 1887 the 
girls worked articles, such as stockings, shirts, tidies, etc., 
which were sold for 5,534*23 marks, the material having 
been furnished by the city authorities, and had cost 3,218*81 
marks, so that the busy hands of the little girls had 
produced a value of 2,315*42 marks. This entire gain 
is used to furnish the schools of the city with means of 
instruction — charts, apparatus, musical instruments, tools, 
etc. 

How practical the women are who teach in this depart- 
ment is seen from the fact that there is no waste. The 
bands or straps knitted by the six-year-old girls, on which 
they learn the difi'erent kinds of knitting, are sewed to- 
gether to make pretty little petticoats. The pieces of mus- 
lin left over from cutting out aprons are sewed together 
for quilts, and thus all waste is prevented. The exhibition 
of girls' needlework was fully as interesting as that in 
Cologne. 

That the work in this industrial school is no mere me- 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATIOX FOR GIRLS. 415 

chanical humdrum is seen from tlie care with which each 
article is drawn and cut according to given measurements. 
I append a few sketches which will illustrate this. 



I A 


B 




D 






D 




B 


A 






I 


r-^ 




Fig. f 




>\ 








/ 






FRO 


-• 






\ 






C 


a 


6 




d 






d 




^6 


a 






V 


^' 










' ■ 










/ 














\ 






c* 






Fie 


•2 










c 


























f 






BAC 


3K. 




















































1 
1 




G 


















F 
















































— 






















(^ 


















(n 

























28 



Figs. 521-523. 



416 SWITZERLAND AND ALSACE. 

The different benevolent societies of the city buy the arti- 
cles made by the little school-girls. Thus, for instance, I 
find the following societies mentioned — " The Benevolent So- 
ciety," " The Lying-in Hospital," " The Sisters of the Poor," 
" The Maternal Society " — as purchasers. Darning and other 
kinds of mending are important branches of needlework 
here in Miilhausen. 

3. A Lesson in Philology. 

It was a rare treat that I had one day in a school of Al- 
sace, where I listened to a language - lesson. The word 
^' Kleinod^^ (jewel) occurred in a sentence, and the pupils 
were requested to define or paraphrase it. There being 
some difficulty in this, the teacher asked, "Separate the 
syllables." The pupils hesitated, not knowing whether to 
write Klein-od or Klei-nod; but they finally determined 
to separate them thus, '^ Klein-od ^ "Well, then, there 
are two words in one, namely, Klein and od. There 
is no difficulty in understanding the first part {little), but 
the second must have a meaning also. What is it ? " No 
response. 

Teacher. "The word is quite old. We have to search 
for its meaning in the oldest records of the German lan- 
guage. Who was the greatest of the gods in German 
mythology ? " 

Pupil. ''Odin.'"' 

Teacher. " Yes ; Odin was the greatest of gods. And 
what did the word god mean originally ? " 

Pupil. " I think it meant gut (good)." 

Teacher. "Yes; and up to the present day the word gut 
is used to signify a possession (goods). Mention a word in 
which this is apparent." 

Pupil. " Landgut (farm)." 

Teacher. "True. Now remember that gut (good or 
goods) and od are the same words, and mean as in ancient 
time so even now both Gott (God) and gut (good or goods). 
Now, what does Kleinod mean ? " 



A LESSON IN PHILOLOGY. 417 

Pupil. " It must mean a little possession, or perhaps a 
little treasure." 

Teacher. " Exactly— some valuable goods, as precious 
stones, small, yet whose intrinsic value is greater than that 
of many bulky possessions. A synonym of Kleinod is jewel. 
Now, think of the opposite meaning of Kleinod.^^ 

Instantly the reply came, " It must be Allod.''^ 

Teacher. '*Yes; state its meaning." 

Pupil. "Possessions in land belonging to an ancient 
aristocratic family." 

Teacher. "Correct; the allodial possessions could not be 
divided, but remained forever inalienable in a family. Such 
allods are still found in England, where only the eldest sons 
of aristocratic families inherit the lands and titles. From 
the explanation of such words as Kleinod and Allod you 
may judge how consistent the German language is in word- 
building." 

The conversation did not last many minutes. But what 
an amount of thought - bearing information was given ! 
What openings into other realms of thought were offered ! 
What an interest was awakened among the pupils who thus 
" made the acquaintance of words " ! This short episode of 
the lesson reminded me of that inscription over the gate of 
an Arabian school. "Here is a place where children are 
taught the beginning of words " ; and again it reminded me 
of the fact that English and American children often use 
words thoughtlessly which might be to them as transparent 
as crystal if the dictionary were diligently used. Such a 
word as atonement, Latin as it looks and sounds, is yet 
an easy word to imderstand if built over again from at-one- 
ment. Children who are taught to apply to the diction- 
ary acquire a remarkable command over the queen's Eng- 
lish, while without it they forever remain as ignorant as my 
servant who " spelled " through a newspaper in his leisure 
hours, and thought "the constitutionality of a measure" 
meant the size of a bushel or yard-stick ! 



418 SWITZERLAND AND ALSACE. 



4. Crumbs.— Notes from the Schools of Mulhausen. 

A good deal of sketching is done here, such as I described 
in other chapters of this book. The children talk with 
chalk as readily as they express their thoughts orally and in 
writing. Thus, I saw a boy go to the board and illustrate 
his recitation of the bees by sketching rapidly and very ac- 
curately the wings, head, and feet of a bee. Another, speak- 
ing of birds, sketched the characteristic forms of wings 
and beaks. This sketching is an enviable skill, and possi- 
ble only where the practice of sketching is made a daily 
occurrence. 

When I inquired for the causes of the almost faultless 
orthography I noticed in the composition books, I was told 
that they had a rule in these schools which made mistakes 
almost impossible — to wit, " Do not correct but avoid mis- 
takes." Every word dictated is looked at and dissected before 
it is written. If, perchance, a pupil does err, he is made to 
erase it and insert the correct form so carefully that the pro- 
ductions or reproductions are absolutely faultless. 

While the recitations here are generally individual where 
the pupils' owTi thoughts play an important role, a novel 
thing to me was the perfection in class recitation. I heard 
classes speak in chorus as though it was but one voice. 
Poems were thus recited faultless in emphasis and accent. 
In no other school in all my wanderings through Europe 
did I meet a similar perfection in concert recitation. 

Each teacher here keeps a "diarium," a day-book, in 
which the subject of each lesson is noted down. When the 
inspector, whose desire is to keep the different classes of the 
same grade on a level, enters a school-room, he never fails to 
inspect this book, and he frequently takes occasion to enter 
a note of commendation or reproof. The teachers are nearly 
all of Prussian descent, not natives of Alsace, and the use of 
the French language is consistently discouraged. 

The citizens of Alsace and Lorraine are still somewhat 
obstinate against the German rule, but they are unanimous 



NOTES FROM THE SCHOOLS OF MULHAUSEN. 419 

in praising the common schools with which they have been 
blessed. During the French rule their schools were kept by 
superannuated men, who " did much in patriotism " but lit- 
tle in real teaching. I gathered these facts from men of the 
people, with whom I took occasion to speak of the schools 
while traveling through Alsace. 



THE END. 



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the Earliest Settlements. By Richard A. Boone, Professor 
of Pedagogy, Indiana University, 

D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 

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EDUCATION IN RELATION TO 
MANUAL INDUSTRY. 

Bj Arthur MacArthur, LL. D. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

''• Mr, MacArthur's able treatise is designed to adapt to the nsual methode of 
instruction a system of rudimental science and manual art. He describes the 
progress of industrial education in France, Belgium, Russia, Germany, and Great 
Britain, and the establishment of their professional schools. The technical 
schools of the United States are next reviewed. Mr. MacArthur is anxious that 
the State governments should take up the subject, and enable every girl and boy 
to receive a practical education which would fit them for use in this world. This 
valuable book sliould be carefully read and meditated upon. The discussion is 
of high imYtortance.''''— Philadelphia Public Ladger. 

"The importance of this hook can not be too greatly urged. It gives a 
statistical account of the industries of various countries, the number of workmen 
and workwomen, and the degree of perfection attained. America is behind in 
native production, and, when we read of the importation of foreign workmen in 
simple manufacture such as glass, it is a stimulus for young men to train them- 
selves early as is done in foreign countries. The necessity of training-schools 
and the value and dignity of trades are made evident in this work. It is particu- 
larly helpful to women, as it mentions the variety of employments which they 
can practice, and gives the success already reached by them. It serves as a his- 
tory and encyclopaedia of facts relating to industries, and is very well written."— 
Boston Globe. 

"The advocates of industrial education in schools will find a very complete 
manual of the whole subject in Mr. MacArthur's hook..''— Springjield Republican. 

" A sensible and much-needed plea for the establishment of schools for indus- 
try by the state, supported by the practical illustration of what has been accom- 
plished for the good of the state by such schools in foreign countries. Great 
Britain has never regretted the step she took when, recognizing at the Crystal 
Palace Exhibition her inferiority in industrial art-work, she at once established 
the South Kensington Museum, with its annexed art-schools, at a cost of six mill- 
ion dollars."- The Critic. 

" The aim of the book is succinctly stated, as it ought to be, in the preface : 
'What is industrial education ? What are its merits and objects, and, above all, 
what power does it possess of ministering to some useful purpose in the practical 
arts of life? ' These are questions about which we are deeply concerned in this 
country, and the author has essayed to answer them, not by an abstract discus- 
sion of technical instruction, but by giving a full and accurate account of the 
experiments in industrial training which have been actually and successfully 
carried out in Europe."— A'ew York Sun. 

"A most interesting and suggestive work on a matter of immediate and 
universal importance."— iV(??i; York Daily Graphic. 

"An admirable book on a much-neglected subject. Those countries have 
made the roost rapid advance in the line of new industries which have paid the 
most attention to the methods here recommended of primary instruction. The 
land that neglects them will sooner or later cease to be in the front ranks ot 
applied science and the useful a,vXi .'■''— New York Journal of Commerce. 



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Greenwood's Principles of Education Practically Applied. 

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Introduction price, 36 cents. 

It is the design of this book, in the first place, to familiarize the child 
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1 HISTORY OE THE 
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Dr. Eggleston's new History of the United States is 
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CHICAGO TRIBUNE, Sept. 22, 1888. 

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Krusi's System of Drawing. 

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KROSrS FREE-HAND, INVENTIVE, AND 
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Adapted to the Requirements of all Grades of Schools. By Hermann 
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It applies art to all the wants and requirements of industry. 

In short, it is the only system which has fully, philosophically, and 
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THE ORIGINAL-DRAWING BOOK. By Edward L. Chi- 
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ELEMENTARY ARCHITECTURE. By Charles Babcock, 
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illustrating the successive steps in gesthetic attainment, and the effect of 
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TEXTILE DESIGNS, for Calico and other Print Goods, Carpets, 
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